BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.20
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan has strong potential for both offshore wind and solar energy, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne told Trend.
“My Azerbaijani friends recognize the goal of increasing rapidly your output of wind and solar energy. Carbon-based fuels are likely to be phased out over the next 10-30 years as they create emissions which cause global heating.
“Azerbaijan has strong potential for both offshore wind and solar energy. The UK is world leader in offshore wind with 7.6 GW of installed capacity, which is the largest in the world. Next year, the UK Government will help fund a World Bank Study in to help develop a roadmap for Offshore Wind in Azerbaijan.
“Solar capacity in the UK has increased from 5,488.6 MW in 2014 to 13,447 MW across 1,041,745 installations. UK Export Finance is currently supporting the 2nd largest solar project in the world in Turkey and I hope there is scope to do the same in Azerbaijan. UKEF has an additional global £2bn fund of Direct Lending capacity available for "clean growth" projects which is based on Green Bond principles. This could be a great opportunity for Azerbaijan organisations interested in renewable energy projects.
“The UK has wide-ranging expertise encompassing everything from research to innovation, through to the manufacturing, construction and deployment of renewable energy as well as the policy and regulatory expertise required to support these. There are also over thirty UK companies already in Azerbaijan with renewable energy capability, which are keen to share their knowledge and expertise.
“I was pleased that the Embassy recently published a picture of me using an electric taxi in Baku’s beautiful and historic old town. These taxis are quiet, make no air pollution and reduce greenhouse emissions, particularly in partnership with renewable energy generation. It is my hope that in the fairly near future all our cars will be electric,” she said.
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