Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I.Khalilova / The Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC), "Tamirmashin" OJSC, and the German company "Nordwind Energieanlagen GmbH" signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding concerning the question of participation in building a wind power plant.
The establishment of six wind power plants with a collective annual power capacity of 13,200 MWh in Azerbaijan's Khizi district is the primary objective of the project. The terms of the project are that it is supposed to start being constructed in the last quarter of the year 2007 and consist of the assembly of six wind power stations each with an annual power capacity of 2,200 megawatt/hour.
It is also assumed that this project will be expanded and gradually increase the number of wind power plants in the future.
According to initial research, nearly 100 alternative electricity sources are planned to be used over the next five years. Azerbaijan uses no alternative sources of electricity at present. Europe and other developed countries have decided to increase the annual share of alternative energy by 10-15%. Despite this, there are no specific plans in Azerbaijan in this sphere, if a lot of work is done in the near future, Azerbaijan will also join this list of countries as result of putting such plans into operation.
Regardless of the capacity, the construction of one small hydraulic aggregate is estimated between $600,000 and $1mln.
In 1998-1999, the Japanese Tomen held investigations in Azerbaijan and prepared a report. The construction of a hydro-electric power station, with a capacity of 60 MWt, was assessed at $100mln. However, due to high cost, the project was cancelled.
Meanwhile, AIC is concluding the second memorandum on intention to develop alternative energy. The first was signed with the Korean company STX Energy, with a project estimated at $41mln.