BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13
By Anastasia Savchenko - Trend:
Last year, Azerbaijan generated about 150 million kilowatt-hours of electricity using solar and wind energy, Director of the Caspian Barrel Oil Research Center Ilham Shaban told Trend Jan. 13.
Shaban said that this indicator is evidence that Azerbaijan is widely developing alternative energy.
“The signed agreement between Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry and ACWA Power and Masdar companies for the construction of two power plants - wind and solar, with a total capacity of 440 megawatts - is certainly a breakthrough for Azerbaijan in the use of renewable energy sources,” the expert said.
Shaban reminded that previously the Yeni Yashma wind energy park in Azerbaijan’s Guba district, with a capacity of 50 megawatts was the biggest energy production facility.
“According to the forecasts of the Energy Ministry, it is planned to receive almost 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year from the activities of wind and solar power plants, which is 10 times more than in previous years,” said the expert.
In conclusion, Shaban added that the generation of over 1 billion kilowatt-hour of electricity for Azerbaijan is a confident step towards the development of the renewable energy sector.
On Jan. 9, Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry signed agreements of pilot projects on renewable energy with Saudi Arabian ACWA Power and the UAE-based Masdar company.
The signing ceremony took place Jan. 9 at the Cabinet of Ministers with the participation of Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Ali Asadov.
The agreements were signed by Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov, Chairman of the Board of ACWA Power Mohammad Abunayyan and Chief Executive Officer of Masdar Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi.
According to the agreements, pilot projects will be implemented for the construction of wind power plants with a capacity of 240 megawatts with ACWA Power, and for the construction of solar power plants with a capacity of 200 megawatts with Masdar.
In general, production of about 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity on wind and solar energy projects annually is predicted.