European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has unveiled a €12bn clean energy package from the EU and urged central Asia to capitalise on its clean energy and raw materials potential.
Speaking at the plenary session of the first EU-Central Asia Summit, she said, “This region aims to be a clean energy hub: wind in Kazakhstan, solar in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, hydro in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. And geothermal across the region. You could produce enough clean energy for your economy and for export. You could turn part of this energy into clean hydrogen.”
The announced €12bn Global Gateway Investment Package will kickstart a new pipeline of projects for Central Asia, while a new Investors Forum will take place in Uzbekistan this year to move things forward.
The region is also well placed to benefit from abundant critical raw materials, she added, noting it has 40% of the global reserves of manganese, as well as lithium and graphite.
European companies are already involved with a €1.6bn investment at the Almalyk copper mine in Uzbekistan.
The Investors Forum later this year is part of a push to secure private funding for the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor aimed at boosting connections between the five central Asia countries and Europe.
The lack of infrastructure for the production, transportation, and utilisation of green hydrogen is a major hurdle as land-locked central Asia needs long-distance land transportation infrastructure, unlike other countries that have sea access.
As with most countries, the production cost of green hydrogen is another hindrance, although the cost is expected to significantly decrease heading towards 2050 due to cost reductions in renewables.
Developments are taking shape. German-based Svevind is developing a green hydrogen project in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau Region.
And the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced last August it would finance a pilot hydrogen generation facility in Uzbekistan to support the decarbonisation of fertiliser production.
Hydrogen is also on Tajikistan’s radar, with plans to produce up to 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2040.
This week the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency issued a new call for proposals for key cross-border EU energy infrastructure projects included in the Union list of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) and Projects of Mutual Interest (PMIs), in line with the revised TEN-E (Trans-European Network – Energy) regulation. The €600m funding covers electricity, gas, smart grids, hydrogen and CO2 networks.
