BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 26. Dutch companies keen to work with Azerbaijan in offshore wind development, the embassy of Netherlands in Baku told Trend.
“Dutch companies continue to be involved in the energy sector. The Netherlands welcomes the efforts of Azerbaijan to diversify its economy. This is not only important to avoid reliance on only one sector, but also with a view to the environment and climate. Azerbaijan has a lot of wind on its Caspian Sea coast, so there is an interest to develop offshore wind energy. The World Bank Group has started consultations on the development of a roadmap. This project is financed from the ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance) programme which is co-funded by the Netherlands. The Netherlands is keen to support these efforts,” reads a message from the embassy.
The development of offshore wind development in the North Sea started many years ago.
“These projects are now being executed by the private sector without government subsidies. The Netherlands has a strong consortium of companies under the heading of 'wind water works', who would welcome cooperation with Azerbaijan,” the embassy said.
Azerbaijan is one of the countries with high potential for renewable energy sources. The total power generation capacity of Azerbaijan is 7542.2 MW, the capacity of the power plants on renewable energy sources, including large HPPs is 1304.5 MW, which is 17.3 percent of the total capacity, according to the country's energy ministry.
Hydropower capacity is 1154.8 MW (30 stations, 20 of which is SHPP), wind power capacity 66.1 MW (7 stations, 2 of which is hybrid), bioenergy capacity 37.7 MW (2 stations, 1 of which is hybrid), solar energy capacity 45.9 MW (12 stations, 2 of which is hybrid). One hybrid power plant (Gobustan) is equipped based on wind-2.7 MW, solar-3 MW and bioenergy-0.7 MW. In Nakhvhivan AR 4 SPPs with a total capacity of 33 MW are commissioned. Installed capacity on renewable energy sources excluding large hydropower plants, was 194 MW in 2021 and it made up 2.5 percent of total electricity generation capacity.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn