Uzbek airport operator eyes SAF offtake from huge green hydrogen-based plant

Uzbekistan’s main airport operator could offtake sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Allied Biofuels’ (ABF) planned $6.1bn Central Asia hydrogen-based e-fuel hub under a new memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Uzbekistan Airports signed the early-stage agreement to outline the supply of an unspecified amount of SAF and e-SAF beginning in 2030 from the facility, which is expected to produce over 400,000 tonnes of fuel per year.

The plant is set to deploy 4.45GW of renewables, 1.6GW of battery energy storage, and 2.4GW of Plug Power electrolysers to produce 160,4000 tonnes of SAF, 257,000 tonnes of e-SAF, and 5,040 tonnes of green diesel annually.

Uzbekistan Airports manages 11 airports across the country, with Tashkent International Airport serving as the primary hub.

J.O. Umarkhodjaev, Chairman of the Board of Uzbekistan Airports, said the deal will support the modernisation of Uzbekistan’s aviation sector and encourage the adoption of SAF.

ABF’s project is the first of its kind in Central Asia. In April, the development was awarded a Project Implementation Agreement through a , giving it special economic zone treatment, carrying tax exemptions and incentive frameworks.

The MOU with Uzbekistan Airport represents the first publicly revealed stage of offtake talks for the mammoth project.

While abundant low-cost renewable energy resources and vast land availability bolster the on-paper feasibility for projects in the region, its outlook could be constrained by major structural challenges.

Its landlocked geography, limited infrastructure, weak policy support, and distance from key demand centres in Europe and wider Asia represent potential bottlenecks.

Uzbekistan’s green hydrogen landscape remains extremely nascent. In 2025, Chinese engineering and construction major PowerChina began trial operations of a 20MW plant – understood to be the largest in the region.