BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 4. Azerbaijan possesses strong renewable energy resources including a world-class offshore wind potential located next to major demand centers, Trend reports with reference to the Offshore Wind Roadmap for Azerbaijan.
The document was released June 3 by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The document reveals that Azerbaijan’s electricity system will need to evolve over the long-term to a decarbonized energy system covering electricity, transport, industry, and heating. S
“Such a system will need to be founded on large-scale electricity from renewables such as OSW and, decreasingly over time, natural gas. Hydrogen may also play a role as an energy vector and storage for some aspects of transport and industrial heat. If developed at scale, offshore wind offers an opportunity for Azerbaijan to increase its exports of both electricity and natural gas (as more gas is made available for export due to reduced national consumption of gas for domestic electricity production). It may also offer a long-term opportunity for hydrogen export, assuming Azerbaijan can generate green hydrogen at costs that are competitive in a global market,” reads the report.
Reportedly, offshore wind development is an opportunity for Azerbaijan to transition a significant part of its existing oil and gas workforce over to clean energy. This transition would not only involve direct construction of the wind farms themselves but also development of associated infrastructure (e.g., ports and vessels) and manufacturing (e.g., towers and foundations). Diversifying this workforce will help ensure that skilled, long-term jobs are retained.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn