BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan is aiming at the active development of alternative energy in the coming years and the Azerbaijani state is investing more and more in this field from year to year, Head of the Environmental Policy Department of Azerbaijan's Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry Rasim Sattarzade told Trend.
According to Sattarzade, the potential of renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan exceeds 25,300 megawatts, which will allow to generate 62.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
In recent years, Azerbaijan has been increasingly developing renewable energy sources, which is much safer than traditional hydrocarbons. The sun and wind are environmentally friendly and are not exhausted during use.
Rasim Sattarzade noted that most of the country's potential in this area falls on the solar energy, which is estimated at 23,040 megawatts. Potentially, wind energy accounts for 3,000 megawatts, biomass for 380 megawatts, geothermal energy for 800 megawatts, and the remaining 520 megawatts fell to the share of small hydropower plants, according to Sattarzade.
"A large number of projects have already been completed, but starting from 2020, projects for the development of alternative energy will be implemented more intensively. Large government investments are expected in alternative energy projects, as the Azerbaijani state attaches great importance to this industry," Rasim Sattarzade said.
The official emphasized that hydropower is currently the most important source of renewable energy in Azerbaijan.
"Most sites for the construction of hydropower plants are already in use. The number of dams and reservoirs that can be built on the country's rivers is limited. If too many power plants are built on a river, conflicts associated with the energy distribution are inevitable," Sattarzade said.