Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 2
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
The construction project of a wind farm in the Caspian Sea is subject to amendments, deputy head of the State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources of Azerbaijan Jamil Malikov said in an interview with the SeeNews agency.
It was earlier reported that the construction project of a wind farm in the Caspian Sea was submitted to the Azerbaijani government. Positive feedback from the ministries of environment and natural resources, finance, economy and industry, energy has been already received regarding the project.
If the capacity is fully installed, the facility will be an impressive addition to the country's 66.7 megawatts of wind currently.
"Although the Azerbaijani government has given its approval for the project, which is urgent to get investors interested, it is subject to corrections pending feasibility study and availability of investors," he said. "The wind farm project is in fact one of multiple wind projects we want to go after in the coming years. The study is due next year."
The state's share in the wind project's budget is expected to be in the range of 10 percent to 15 percent, but the contribution may vary depending on how much investors will chip in, he said.
"For the moment, we do not have any agreements with possible investors signed," Malikov said. "But we are in talks with investors from Germany, China and some Arab countries in the neighborhood."
He went on to add that some of the possible investors have already expressed wishes to see wind turbines of their selection installed at sea off Azerbaijani capital Baku.
If Azerbaijan does not find appropriate investors, it will be pursuing the scheme itself through separate legs, the official said.
Malikov went on to add that what makes the wind farm project unique is that technologies usually applied for construction of ground-based wind power plants will be used for the offshore wind facility.
"That will enable us to significantly reduce the costs and the term of the construction will shorten," Malikov said. "We want to implement the project within three years."
At present, Azerbaijan's energy system capacity is about 7,200 megawatts.
The total potential of alternative and renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan exceeds 12,000 megawatts.
Most of the country's potential in this area accounts for solar energy, and this potential is estimated at 5,000 megawatts.
Some 4,500 megawatts account for wind power, 1,500 megawatts for biomass, 800 megawatts for geothermal energy, while the remaining 350 megawatts account for the potential of small hydro power plants.