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MOSCOW - Uzbekistan has signed more than $2 billion worth of strategic agreements with Saudi developer ACWA Power to boost electricity generation and develop technical expertise, its energy ministry said on Thursday.
The deals include a 25-year power purchase agreement worth $1.2 billion which will see ACWA build and operate a gas-turbine power plant in the country, the ministry said.
The project, on which Tashkent invited bids this week, will boost Uzbekistan's total capacity by 12%.
The agreements also include a $550 million-$1.1 billion deal to build a wind power plant.
The Central Asian nation has already struck a deal with the United Arab Emirates' Masdar to build a 100 MW solar plant, and has announced plans for three more 200 MW solar facilities.
It is also working with Russia's Rosatom to build a nuclear power plant.
(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov, Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Tom Balmforth, Elaine Hardcastle and Jan Harvey) ((andrey.ostroukh@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 1242;))