BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 24
Trend:
Power engineering in our country is going through a period of rapid development, and this is the key condition for our development, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during his speech at the meeting with power engineers after viewing the construction of a 330/220/110 kV Gobu substation with a capacity of 1,000 megawatt and laying of a foundation stone for a 385-megawatt Gobu Power Station, Trend reports.
“At the same time, I would like to inform local and foreign companies that we are determined to continue our work on the production of traditional energy sources. We are inviting foreign and local investors to build thermal power plants, we want to attract them. We also want to involve them in the construction of hydropower and other renewable energy plants. If there is such an interest, I think that this issue can be resolved in a short time because a lot is being done in the field of investment in Azerbaijan and the business environment is improving. We have made historic achievements in the Doing Business program. Azerbaijan already occupies one of the leading places in this rating which is prepared by the World Bank. In addition, we have been able to make very great progress in terms of sustainable development. We are improving our positions on the UN Sustainable Development Index every year. Therefore, Azerbaijan remains a very attractive country for foreign investments and I think that this sphere – the sector of power engineering – is of great interest, and life is already confirming this,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
“In a word, I can say with full confidence today that power engineering in our country is going through a period of rapid development, and this is the key condition for our development because power engineering plays a vital role in the economy of any country. No other sector can develop without the development of this sector. Therefore, the construction of power plants as a result of comprehensive measures, the arrival of foreign investors in Azerbaijan, the repair and restoration work carried out at substations, the construction of new substations, the repair of power lines and the laying of new ones, the construction of high-voltage power lines together with neighboring countries and the creation of grounds for regional cooperation are all very important. We successfully cooperate with Turkey, Georgia, Russia and Iran in this area. We can export our electricity along the already created energy corridors,” the head of state said.
Azerbaijani president emphasized that of course, when we recall the picture of previous years, we see again what historic work has been done in this area.
“Indeed, we used to be fully dependent on imports. Our only source of generation, the Mingachevir Thermal Power Plant, was in very poor condition. Therefore, without the development of this area, there could be no question of any development, and we managed to achieve this. I must also note that international institutions appreciate the work done in this area. I can cite only one figure: a report of the Davos World Economic Forum ranks Azerbaijan second in the world in terms of the access to electricity. This alone is enough to sum up the successes achieved in this area, and this is a truly historic achievement. To be ranked second on a global scale is in itself a great historic achievement, especially in the most important area of infrastructure projects – in the sector of power engineering. I congratulate Azerbaijani power engineers on all these achievements and wish you continued success. I am confident that the Gobu Power Station will be commissioned on time – at the beginning of 2022 and we will celebrate its opening together,” the head of state said.