September 20, 2025: The Asian Development Bank has agreed a $51 million loan package with Saudi energy group Acwa Power to build central Asia’s first wind and utility-scale BESS plant.

The ADB said the Nukus 2 facility will be built in Uzbekistan’s Qoraozak district, in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, by Acwa subsidiary ACWA Power Beruniy Wind.

The project will comprise a 200MW wind plant and 100MWh BESS along with transmission infrastructure. The facility is expected to deliver 727,980 MWh of electricity annually and create over 200 jobs during construction and operation.

Financing includes $25.4 million from ADB’s ordinary capital resources and $25.4 million from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund 2, which the bank administers.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Saudi EXIM are parallel lenders.

ADB country director for Uzbekistan Kanokpan Lao-Araya said the project would enhance grid stability, improve energy reliability, and support the country’s goal of achieving a 54% renewable share in the electricity mix by 2030.

As part of its support for Uzbekistan’s energy sector, ADB has provided a $7.5 million credit guarantee backed by Uzbekistan’s government. This was included in the bidding process to lower financial risk and increase competition, resulting in a low tariff for Nukus 2.

Batteries International reported last January that the ADB and World Trade Organization had launched a global database to help tackle soaring demand for minerals to power the green energy transition.

The Trade in Critical Minerals database is designed to track the availability and extraction of key battery minerals including lithium and cobalt and help identify opportunities for reducing the environmental footprint of their mining and processing.