MILAN, Italy, May 6. The operation of 445MW Bilasuvar Solar PV and 315MW Neftchala Solar PV in Azerbaijan is set to potentially start next year, Maryam Rashed Al Mazrouei, Head of Business Development and Investment, CIS Region at Masdar, told Trend on the sidelines of the 58th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Milan.
“These are already under construction, so they will start operation next year. We've achieved financial close, which we announced during COP29 at Baku. And currently, the projects are under construction. It will take a year or a year and a half for construction, so potentially next year we will start the operation of the projects. They will start at full capacity,” she said.
Further, Maryam Rashed Al Mazrouei noted that in Azerbaijan, particularly, Masdar is very active.
“Azerbaijan is a core country as part of our strategy. We developed the first project, the solar PV, we're currently advancing the other three projects, but we're actively engaging with the ministries, with the private sectors to advance our development and our footprint in the country,” she added.
In June 2024, Masdar and SOCAR broke ground on three major solar and wind projects in Azerbaijan with a capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW).
The three groundbreakings include the 445MW Bilasuvar Solar PV Project, the 315 MW Neftchala Solar PV Project, and the 240 MW Absheron-Garadagh Onshore Wind Project. Investment agreements for the projects were reached in October 2023, followed by the signing of Power Purchase Agreements, Transmission Connection Agreements, and Land Lease Agreements.