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Uzbekistan-Korea alliance embraces green growth innovation

By Ko Dong-hwan

The government and businesses of Uzbekistan confirmed at an international forum Thursday that they will keep working with South Korea to develop green technologies and increase energy efficiency.

Korea-Uzbekistan relations entered a new phase this week when a group of government officials and entrepreneurs from the Eastern European country arrived in Seoul Monday for the fifth annual Korea Green Innovation Days 2018. 

There are 133 delegates from 24 countries here for the event, sponsored by the World Bank's Korea Green Growth Trust Fund. They toured government and industrial facilities across South Korea before joining the two-day forum that started Thursday.

"The Ministry of Economy of Uzbekistan signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean Energy Agency," said Khurshid Rakhmatullaev, head of the Department of Main Industries and Energy Sector Development from Uzbekistan's Ministry of Economy.

"Upon our visit this week, we have discussed our future steps to attract and introduce new joint programs for spheres of energy efficiency and renewable energy in Uzbekistan."

The trip to Seoul also was beneficial for those involved in Uzbekistan enterprises.

Ruslan Akbarov, director-general of cement manufacturer Bekabad Cement JSC, said he was surprised how the green growth innovation trend of the Korean government and industries realized "notable innovation and efficiency."

"All Uzbekistan companies want to employee green growth technologies," Akbarov said. "And Korean energy strategies and technologies will be employed by Uzbekistan companies."

The businessman said manufacturers such as his cement factory use "lots of energy," with 30 percent of the company's yearly budget spent on gas and electricity.

"Before we employed the green growth technologies, our facilities were obsolete and old and consumed so much energy," Akbarov said. "But since we introduced the energy management system, we have saved lots of energy, as it raised energy efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions."

The factory received a grant from the Trust Fund, which supports green growth, and applied energy efficiency technologies to all stages of production. As a result, it reduced energy consumption by 20 percent and received certification from the International Standards Organization.

Uzbekistan's energy consumption has been comparatively high. Its national energy intensity is almost triple the world's average indicators. Thus, the country has sought energy efficiency to sustain the national energy market.

"Being rich with natural resources such as natural gas, oil and others, it looks like we don't have any problem with energy efficiency. But still, in a country where 80 percent of electricity is produced by bio-natural gas, we must act very rapidly to save energy and have enough reserves for our future generations," Rakhmatullaev said.

"Therefore, we are intensively implementing our energy efficiency program until 2021, running a number of projects throughout all branches of the national economy. One of them is mainly carried out with the support of the Trust Fund and World Bank."

The Uzbekistan government understands the green growth innovation movement is economically unviable over a short period, Rakhmatullaev said. But it is determined to see gains for future generations.

"You might ask that energy efficiency may be achieved by other directions like in consideration of a tariff system," Rakhmatullaev said. "But, taking into account our population of more than 30 million, we cannot afford introducing a new tariff policy to achieve energy efficiency. We will do it step by step."

Besides the Trust Fund and the World Bank, the Uzbekistan government has drawn support from the Asian Development Bank, some German companies and European countries to introduce new solar and wind maps. Korean companies, according to Rakhmatullaev, also offered to invest in harnessing Uzbekistan's huge green growth potential. 

To attract foreign investment, the Uzbekistan government is set to introduce a public-private-partnership act that will allow a build-operate-transfer financing method that is used worldwide to attract modern technologies. Another legislative change is a feed-in tariff. With this, the government will offset the price gap between the cost of producing renewable energy and lower-cost traditional energy.

 

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=249183