BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 14. Azerbaijan’s growing role in green energy and connectivity can serve not only its own population but potentially its wider neighborhood, said Yermolai Solzhenitsyn, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, speaking during a panel discussion titled "Azerbaijan: Emerging Gateway to Green Growth and Connectivity" at the EBRD Annual Meetings in London, Trend reports.
Reflecting on the global nature of the energy transition, Solzhenitsyn said, "In many parts of the region, there's a little bit of competition between countries about who can become a leader in one or another aspect - not just for their own population, but also for the immediate neighborhood, and whether they can export or not".
He highlighted the role of private investment, especially in storage systems. "This is a great area for the private sector to come in," he noted. "There’s big interest right now, for example in China, for equipment manufacturers not only to export but to localize".
Solzhenitsyn also connected green energy with broader industrial and economic diversification goals. "It’s not just energy for energy’s sake - it’s also a way to attract investment in industrialization," he said. "Moving away from the hydrocarbon legacy, the question becomes: What hubs are we going to build, and what energy and transport conditions can we provide to support them?"
Solzhenitsyn also praised Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29, noting, "It did a great job, not only to advance the discussion but to actually let people discover what a great place Azerbaijan is to come and visit, and maybe even invest in".