BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan has already prepared a draft law ‘On the use of renewable energy sources in the production of electricity’ and currently the draft's agreeing process is underway, the press secretary of the Azerbaijani Energy Ministry Jahid Mikayilov told Trend.
According to Mikayilov, expansion of the renewable energy sources' use, increase of the energy system's efficiency and a gradual transition to a liberal market model are the goals of the reform process implemented under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
"The president’s decrees No. 1209 ‘On accelerating reforms in the energy sector’ dated May 29, 2019, No. 1673 ‘On measures to implement pilot projects in the field of using renewable energy sources’ dated December 5, 2019, as well as Decree No. 1159 dated September 22 2020 ‘On the establishment of the State Agency for Renewable Energy Sources under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Energy ‘ determine the main directions of development of the country's energy sector, including in the field of renewable energy sources,’ he said.
The press secretary stressed that currently the Ministry of Energy is carrying out purposeful work in several directions to fulfill this task.
Touching upon the potential of the Azerbaijani regions for the development of renewable energy, Mikayilov stressed that the southern part of Karabakh - Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Zangilan districts - ranks second after the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in terms of the amount of solar radiation falling on the Earth's surface.
"Here, one square meter of solar radiation falling on a horizontal surface is 1,600-1,700 kilowatt hours per year. The total potential of solar energy in these territories is 3,000-4,000 megawatts," he summed up.
Azerbaijan is one of the leading energy centers in the region.
So far, 560 million tons of a barrel of Azerbaijani oil and 7 billion cubic meters of gas have been exported from Azerbaijan. Some 3.3 percent in the country’s transport sector falls on renewable energy sources. Azerbaijan has signed a number of agreements, according to which a wind power station with a capacity of 240 megawatts will be built in Azerbaijan.
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