Wind turbine

Chinese company Universal Energy announced on Tuesday that it signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Uzbekistani government settled in yuan. It was Uzbekistan's first yuan-settled PPA, marking a great step forward in exploration of bilateral cross-border yuan settlement, the company said. 

According to the contract, Universal Energy will invest and build a 500-megawatt-wind turbine plant in Uzbekistani Samarkand, which was estimated to start at the end of this year, and was scheduled to complete and linked to local grid in 2026. It will be the first wind turbine in mountain area in the Central Asia after completion, the company said.

Notably, the power sale and purchase settlement of the wind plant will be settled in yuan spanning for 25 years, according to the PPA, demonstrating that each phase of the project including financing, equipment purchase and electricity pricing will be processed in yuan. Universal Energy said the PPA was a great breakthrough in the continued internationalization of the yuan.

Settlement in yuan can not only avoid risks caused by exchange rate fluctuation, help reduce cost for the both sides, but was also a positive test of internationalization of yuan in various industry segment, said Universal Energy president Nan Yi. 

Yu Jun, Chinese Ambassador to Uzbekistan stated in an article that China is Uzbekistan's largest trade partner and major source of foreign investment. Since 2017, China's investment to Uzbekistan surged by four times to $11 billion. 

Global Times