Photo: eenergy.media
The UAE’s Mubadala Investment Company and the energy firm TAQA have finalized a deal to acquire a gas-fired power plant at the Talimarjan Energy Complex in Uzbekistan. The acquisition was announced in a press release published on TAQA’s official website.
Ownership of the facility has been transferred to a special-purpose entity, Talimarjan Power Plant 1, in which Mubadala and TAQA each hold a 40 percent stake. The remaining 20 percent is retained by the Uzbek state-owned enterprise “Talimarjon Issiklik Elektr Stansiyasi.”
A separate legal entity has been established for the operation and maintenance of the power plant, with the same shareholders holding identical stakes.
The UAE-based energy firms highlighted that the project involves investment in the development of an 875 MW gas turbine station, which is part of the broader Talimarjan thermal power complex. They also announced that the new owners have signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with the government of Uzbekistan, ensuring that the Central Asian country will buy electricity generated at the plant throughout the duration of the contract. Specific terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
TAQA’s Chief Investment Officer, Frank Poesmayr, commented that the company intends to bring its expertise and resources to support Uzbekistan’s energy sector and continue investing in this critically important field.
Uzbek financial analyst Otabek Bakirov also weighed in on the project, raising several unanswered questions. Chief among them: Did the investors acquire the entire 1,700 MW facility or just a portion of it? The plant reportedly carries $700 million in outstanding loans—will the new owners assume responsibility for this debt? And how much electricity will Uzbekistan be obligated to purchase, and at what price?
Mubadala and TAQA’s interest in acquiring control of the Talimarjan plant was first reported in 2022, when preliminary agreements were signed outlining a planned investment of $1 billion from the UAE partners. At the time, it was noted that $300 million would be allocated as charter capital for the joint venture (with an 80 percent stake going to the foreign investors), while the remaining $700 million would be used to pay down the plant’s existing loans.
Mubadala is a sovereign investment company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. Operating in more than 30 countries, its portfolio spans aerospace, agribusiness, ICT, metal and mining, and utilities, with total assets exceeding $250 billion.
TAQA is an energy company owned by the investment holding ADQ and operates in over 11 countries.
The Talimarjan Thermal Power Plant is located in the village of Nuristan, Nishan District, Qashqadaryo Region, Uzbekistan. Construction began in 1984 but was suspended after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It resumed in 1998, and the first unit came online in December 2004. A 450 MW combined-cycle plant was commissioned in October 2016, followed by three more of the same capacity between February and August 2017. The total capacity of the plant is 1,700 MW.
