Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 26 October, under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a presentation of measures for the effective organization of the activities of the energy market regulator took place.

The energy sector of our country is being consistently reformed. At the first stage, the industry management system was changed. In recent years, 22 power plants have been commissioned, including in those regions where there was no generation before. For the first time, private capital is being attracted to electricity production.

Currently, the country’s energy capacity has reached 85 billion kilowatt-hours. Another 20 gigawatts of capacity are planned to be launched in the coming years. It plans to create 9 gigawatts of generating capacity through US$7 billion in private investment.

To meet the growing needs of a dynamically developing economy and population, it is necessary to increase the volume of electricity production to at least 120 billion kilowatt-hours. It is estimated that investments of US$52 billion will be required to introduce new capacity and completely modernize networks.

Such large-scale investments cannot be made without the participation of the private sector. And to increase the attractiveness of the industry for private investors, as international experience shows, it is first of all necessary to create an energy market with an open competitive environment.

These goals are defined in the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures to carry out the next stage of reform in the energy sector” from 28 September 2023.

According to the document, by 2026 it is planned to introduce a free wholesale market, which will be formed on the basis of demand and supply of electricity. At the same time, it is necessary to formulate a regulatory framework, create a market infrastructure, digitalize the energy system down to the grassroots level, and introduce an intelligent real-time control system (SCADA) that eliminates the human factor.

In many countries, these reforms took an average of 15 years. In our country it is planned to carry out this process in three stages and complete it by 2030.

In accordance with the decree, the Agency for Development and Regulation of the Energy Market was created, which is entrusted with the functions of an energy regulator.

At the presentation, Energy Minister J. Mirzamakhmudov reported on the timing of the implementation of the measures provided for by the decree and the planned work in the field.

The head of state gave specific instructions to responsible persons on developing the concept of power supply for the republic. It is specifically stated that the main condition for the transition to a free energy market is the creation in the country of sufficient generating capacity to fully satisfy the demand for electricity.

The task has also been set to create a unified electricity trading platform, test it and launch it by the end of 2024.

The President emphasized that in the process of liberalizing the energy market, it is necessary to strictly comply with the requirement to sell electricity to the population at a single price in all regions of the republic until 2035, as well as the principle of social protection when setting tariffs.

It was noted that for the effective operation of the new system, it is necessary to pay special attention to three components - personnel training, ensuring the relationship of the industry with science and digitalization. It was instructed to organize this comprehensive work both in the center and in the regions.

In this regard, the Agency will be staffed with highly qualified specialists and foreign consultants. Employees will be sent for advanced training to Spain, China, Turkey and Germany. Based on foreign experience, training courses for engineers, dispatchers, SCADA system operators and other specialists will be organized.

Industry leaders are faced with a number of tasks on the issues discussed at the presentation.