In the windswept steppes of Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s largest wind power project has quietly gone live, and it is more than just a milestone in renewable energy. The 1 GW Bash-Dzhankeldy wind farm, constructed by China Energy Engineering Group (CEEC), financed through European loans, and developed in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, marks a new stage in the Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) evolution.
Rather than the debt-heavy, China-financed megaprojects of the BRI’s early years, this development exemplifies a more diversified, multilateral model. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loans, backed by French and German state funds, provided the capital. Saudi Arabia brought its Vision 2030 investment drive through ACWA Power, in which China’s Silk Road Fund holds a 49% equity stake. The result: a clean energy project positioned as both a BRI flagship and a Saudi Vision 2030 success story.
The New BRI Playbook
Since around 2016, Chinese policy banks have sharply reduced high-risk overseas lending. In its place, Beijing has pursued “third-party market cooperation,” co-financing with multilateral development banks and foreign firms. This reduces financial exposure while still keeping Chinese contractors and technology in leading roles.
In Uzbekistan, that shift is clear. While Gulf firms dominate project development, Chinese firms have secured the majority of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts, 14 out of 18 to date. Many of these contracts are backed by European public finance, underlining Beijing’s ability to integrate Chinese industrial capacity with Western capital.
The model is not unique to Central Asia. Similar China-Gulf-Europe collaborations are emerging in Africa, including a 1.1 GW wind project in Egypt backed by the EBRD, UK, and German state lenders, built by PowerChina using turbines from China’s Envision Energy.
Strategic Alignments: Vision 2030 Meets the Green BRI
For Beijing, renewable energy is part of the BRI’s “new productive forces” strategy, combining high-tech infrastructure with sustainable development. For Riyadh, projects like Bash-Dzhankeldy align perfectly with Vision 2030’s diversification goals, deploying petrodollars into green assets across emerging markets.
As Naser al-Tamimi of the Global Institute for Strategic Research notes, clean energy is now a cornerstone of China–Saudi cooperation, with clear ambitions to expand into Africa and other parts of Asia. Uzbekistan, with its target of 40% renewable electricity by 2030, is a proving ground for this alliance.
A Challenge for Brussels
For the European Union, however, the optics are more complicated. Brussels launched its Global Gateway initiative in 2021 as a strategic rival to the BRI, but in practice, EU-backed finance often delivers projects built by Chinese companies, and branded as BRI achievements.
Analysts point to Croatia’s Pelješac Bridge, largely EU-funded but promoted as a BRI success, as an earlier example. While the EBRD maintains that private-sector clients can choose any contractor, the pattern raises questions about whether EU capital is enhancing EU influence, or simply enabling China’s industrial reach.
Implications for Global Infrastructure Competition
The Bash-Dzhankeldy project underscores a reality: in an era of de-risking and diversified finance, China’s BRI is becoming less about direct lending and more about embedding Chinese engineering, manufacturing, and supply chains into globally funded projects.
For host nations like Uzbekistan, this approach delivers tangible benefits. Clean power, foreign investment, and a diversified energy mix. For China and Saudi Arabia, it cements a partnership that can expand across continents. For Europe, it is a test of how to reconcile industrial competitiveness with the open procurement rules of multilateral finance.
What is clear is that in 2025, the BRI is no longer a one-way street. It is a platform where capital, contractors, and strategic ambitions from multiple regions converge, and in that convergence, China’s role remains central.