It was to have been a benchmark deal, not only bringing a new energy source to Central Asia's most populous country, but also signaling that Uzbekistan, after decades of insular authoritarian rule, wanted to be a player in the global marketplace.
But two years later, the $1.3 billion contract to build a national solar energy generation system languishes with an uncertain future, providing an object lesson for other emerging economies seeking to open their markets to international investors.
This was not Uzbekistan's first bid to open up an economy that had long stagnated under the rule of dictator Islam Karimov. Since coming to power in 2016, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has made attracting foreign direct investment one of his top priorities.
His government has opened new sectors of the economy to competitive tenders; tapped global debt markets with a $1 billion Eurobond; and signed a spate of investment contracts with companies from advanced industrial economies including France, Canada and the United States.
"Uzbekistan is not the same anymore. I personally guarantee that. We will create all necessary legal and institutional conditions" to make Uzbekistan attractive to investors, .
But the , a Canada-based but majority-American-owned energy company, stands out, both for its sheer size and for what has since befallen it.
The agreement was to provide solar energy generation capacity throughout Uzbekistan, marking the country's first large-scale power purchase agreement. But the deal remains stuck over the nation's failure to deliver on a promised payment guarantee.
The guarantee would ensure that SkyPower's costs would be covered even if its state-owned partner, UzbekEnergo, failed to pay as contracted for the energy it received. Without that assurance, , SkyPower simply cannot work in Uzbekistan.
Adler said Mirziyoyev personally persuaded him to invest in Uzbekistan during a 2017 business dinner in New York, arguing that his country needed solar power infrastructure and wanted to learn from SkyPower's experience.
"I looked President Mirziyoyev in the eyes, and said, 'I want to know, if I'm able to get approval from our board to make a sizable investment, are you going to follow through with all these reforms and commitments that you've laid out to hundreds of people in the room at this dinner?' And this is on the sidelines of the U.N. He shook my hand, he said, 'Be in Tashkent in two weeks,' " Adler said.
The Uzbek government has not issued any formal explanation for the holdup. However, reliable sources in Tashkent have identified at least two major issues to VOA.
First, the Uzbek side has had cold feet about the cost: SkyPower-produced energy will be priced at 6 cents per kilowatt hour, but more affordable offers have since come along. Second, Uzbek laws do not allow the Ministry of Finance to provide the payment guarantee that SkyPower wants.
Mirziyoyev issued a decree in April 2018 ordering the ministry to provide such a document and instructing relevant parts of the government to work with SkyPower. Still, the legal system has not been adjusted to permit it.
"The decree said this contract is valid. This is with UzbekEnergo, who's now become the national power company, and the president directed his minister of finance to forthwith, immediately issue a payment guarantee, because … Uzbekistan doesn't even have an investment grade credit rating today," Adler said.
"Trust is something you cannot buy. And if some guy at the top is saying, 'Trust me, trust me, trust me,' but all the guys underneath, they're cutting out his legs and not following his directive, then no one's going to come," Adler added.
The U.S. government has urged Tashkent to honor its contracts, and the case has become a crucial test for Mirziyoyev's government, not least because of the size and scale of the proposed project.
As other present and potential investors anxiously watch, Adler looks to Mirziyoyev himself to break the logjam.
"It's the people beneath him that are not executing — that is causing consternation, and it's got a lot of investors on the fence. Is this real, or is this not real? To the point where people are wondering: Why would they not honor a contract? Why don't they honor a president's decree? You know what the response is? No response," Adler said.