BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25
By Fidan Babayeva – Trend:
The government of Azerbaijan needs to create a clear plan of action regarding use of alternative energy, based on balance of power production and consumption, Independent Expert in Ecology, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Azerbaijan State University of Economics Rauf Guliyev told Trend.
Guliyev was commenting on the issue of the prospects for the development of alternative energy sources in Azerbaijan.
““The government must develop a clear and realistic plan for expanding the use of electricity in industry, agriculture, transport, IT sector, housing and communal sector and other spheres,” Guliyev said.
"The mankind started to develop alternative energy sources as a result of environmental problems associated with air pollution,” Guliyev said. “There are opportunities for using wind energy in Azerbaijan, especially in rural areas, which can also be used in the Caspian Sea.”
“Firstly, it can be used along the shallow coastal water, as well as on the numerous islands of Baku and Absheron archipelagos,” the expert said. “Moreover, it is possible to develop the use of thermal water energy, which is enough in the country. For example, great thermal water resources are available in Guba district and in some areas of Kura-Araz lowland. So far, the high salinity of these waters is an obstacle. But this problem can be solved with the help of chemists."
“Along with the development of such important spheres as maintaining macroeconomic stability, accelerating industrialization, creating industrial towns, technology parks and others, it is also necessary to use Azerbaijan’s great potential to expand the possibilities of using alternative energy sources in the coming years,” Guliyev said.
"There are big areas on the territory of Gobustan in Azerbaijan, where solar panels can be placed on the southern slopes of low mountains and hills,” the expert said. “Wind power generators create noise, an electromagnetic field and so on. However, this drawback can be circumvented by placing them in the sea."
“Oil and gas remain the main source of electricity production for Azerbaijan, however, it is planned that by 2050 half of the country's total energy consumption must be generated by using renewable energy sources,” Guliyev said.
“Azerbaijan has the potential allowing to bring this indicator up to three percent next year, up to six percent by 2025 and up to 10 percent by 2030,” the expert said.
An alternative energy source is a renewable resource, it replaces traditional energy sources operating on oil, natural gas and coal, which, when burned, emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and this contributes to an increase in the greenhouse effect and global warming.
The reason for the search for alternative energy sources is the need to receive it from the energy of renewable or practically inexhaustible natural resources and phenomena. Its other advantage is environmental friendliness and profitability.