BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11
Trend:
The construction of five hydropower plants on the liberated lands is expected to be completed this year, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to Azerbaijan State News Agency-AZERTAC, Trend reports.
"If we had not pursued a successful oil and gas policy and our partners had not trusted us, including the future of Azerbaijan, they would not have made such gigantic foreign investments. Therefore, very serious work is being done today to fully engage renewable energy, and we are seeing the results of this work. Where are we seeing them? First of all, foreign companies, major companies are investing in this area. Last month, a groundbreaking ceremony was held under a contract signed between “ACWA Power”, one of the largest companies in the field, and Azerbaijan. A 240-megawatt wind farm will be commissioned next year. Negotiations are underway with BP to build a solar power plant with a capacity of more than 200 megawatts in Jabrayil district. Negotiations are underway with “Mazdar” of the United Arab Emirates to build a solar power plant. Both projects have a capacity of about 400-450 megawatts. In addition, as I mentioned, we plan to build 240 megawatt power plants with “ACWA Power”, followed by 280 megawatt power plants at the “Khudafarin” and “Giz Galasi” reservoirs together with Iran. Half of that capacity will be ours, which will be an additional 140 megawatts. “AzerEnergy” has its own 50-megawatt wind farm. Then four hydropower plants were reconstructed on the liberated lands on the Lev River last year – “Gulabird”, “Sugovushan-1”, “Sugovushan-2” and “Kalbajar”. The construction of five hydropower plants on the liberated lands is expected to be completed this year. There will also be stations with a capacity of about 25-30 megawatts. It will also be possible to build about 30 hydropower plants destroyed by Armenians in the liberated lands. I would like to take this opportunity to invite local and foreign investors to this field. Because the state will do this, we are already doing this. But it would be good if private companies also invested in this area. Of course, we have tremendous potential in the Kalbajar-Lachin zone and other liberated lands. I have cited these figures: there is a proven energy potential of more than 9,000 megawatts, including solar and wind farms. Our greatest capacity is in the Caspian Sea, and it is no coincidence that the world's leading energy companies are now paying great attention to the Caspian Sea. We have already begun to receive proposals. The capacity of the Caspian Sea for renewable energy production is more than 150,000 megawatts. Therefore, we must plan all this work properly," Azerbaijani president said.
"Of course, we have met and will continue to meet domestic demand. We must expand our exports and access new export markets. As I said, we have energy connections with all four neighboring countries, and we are now working on a new project. We now plan to build a new line through the Zangazur corridor from Azerbaijan to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and from there to Turkey and Iran. As I said earlier, the Zangazur corridor is not only about railways, highways and air transport. At the same time, the Zangazur corridor will play a role in energy exports. We will have a new line to supply electricity to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, which is an integral part of Azerbaijan, and from there to foreign markets, to Turkey and Europe. One line passes through Georgia-Turkey and the second line must pass through there. We are working on it, and our growing exports will increase our importance, increase our geopolitical importance, and at the same time bring us additional currency. We will gain currency not only from oil and gas, but also from electricity, and our country will live more prosperously. Therefore, all these projects are in our plans. Today's opening ceremony once again shows our strength and determination. It shows that we are successfully fulfilling all our objectives," the head of state said.