BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.11
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Energy sector is one that the World Bank is really proud to have been partnering with Azerbaijan for many years, Sarah Michael, World Bank Country Manager for Azerbaijan, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“It is an exciting time globally for developments in the energy market. We’ve been working with the government to look at the building blocks to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the electricity market in the country, ways to promote the maximum reliability, cost effectiveness, with the view to ensuring best possible access for consumers of electricity whether that’s households, schools, businesses. So, we’re trying to draw on the global expertise that we have and the lessons that the world is learning from different power sector markets around the world to help Azerbaijan further develop the electricity market, look at the options for ways to create more private sector participation and to look at building and efficient and viable electricity market for the future,” she explained.
Sarah Michael noted that the World Bank is very excited about the strong commitment the government of Azerbaijan has to renewable energy.
“It is a tremendous thing to see a country that has such a strong history in oil and gas and with a modern innovator in the oil sector, now so strongly committed to being also a global leader on renewable energy. For the World Bank Group, which is the World Bank, but our sister agency, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), we’ve been glad to working with the government to explore the opportunities that the country has in offshore wind potential. We see this work is very much complementing many other initiatives the government has ongoing on renewable energy more broadly, including onshore wind, solar energy,” she explained.
The country manager went on to add that in the offshore wind space, the World Bank is looking at helping the government to assess which different opportunities the country has and different directions, investments, perspectives that the government may want to take on and how best to capitalize on those opportunities.
“We think not only will it have immediate impact on energy consumption here in Azerbaijan, but there would be tremendous potential down the road for Azerbaijan to be an exporter as well of clean renewable energy,” Sarah Michael said.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn