BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 4. Azerbaijan possesses strong port infrastructure and industrial skills and offshore wind energy (OSW) has the potential to deliver substantial economic benefit to Azerbaijan, 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).
By committing to ambitious volume targets for OSW, putting in place a comprehensive procurement process and offering stable routes to market, Azerbaijan will attract interest from the international OSW development community. This will in turn lead to the development and growth of the OSW supply chain, sustaining existing jobs, delivering new employment, and leading to additional high-value economic activity in Azerbaijan. A coordinated, multi-agency approach will be required to maximize local benefits and grow local capabilities.
It is recommended that Azerbaijan’s ministry of energy (MOE) presents a balanced vision for local supply chain development, encouraging international engagement in key areas identified for local supply to ensure latest international good practice is accessed to keep costs down. MOE and relevant government agencies enable education and investment in local supply chain businesses, including in training of onshore and offshore workers. MOE enables investment in a local wind turbine installation vessel in the high growth scenario.
MOE produces a roadmap of research priorities for advancing OSW in Azerbaijan, with focus on levelized cost of energy (LCOE) reduction and establishes an industry-academic board or national research and development (R&D) consortium/center to drive activities.
Academic institutions start developing second-cycle courses and doctoral training programs specific to OSW. Industry and government work together to encourage women into the sector, including in engineering, design, management, and operations. Opportunities should be well promoted and gender decoders and gender-balanced language used to make recruitment practices unbiased. MOE requires that developers successful in auctions involve their supply chain in gender equality working groups, supported by women’s rights organizations in Azerbaijan, GWEC, and GWNET.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn