Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend I.Khalilova / The Ministry of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan has postponed indefinitely, the submission of the interim report for technical assistance for the introduction of alternative energy sources, a source stated at Baku Office of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Due to the submission of the project, ADB's consultant, Switzerland-Indian consortium Entec, was planning to hold a conference by 3 August. The report will reflect key directions of the project. The head of the consortium, Artur Alex, has been in Baku to develop the report last week.
The development of the final report will commence after the document has been agreed by the Government, by mid-September 2007. ABD has already started preliminary consultations with the Azerbaijani Government on financing the project by ABD. ABD is ready to allocate $50mln to implement the project. The budget will be expended for the construction of small hydroelectric power stations in the country.
The consultant is holding investigations to define different methods and the potential to develop renewable resources of electron energy through the grant budget of $900,000. $200,000 of that was allocated by Finland, $500,000 by АBD and $200,000 by Azerbaijan. Signing of the grant agreement was held in 26 May 2006. Technical assistance is required for 10 months.
About 100 alternative electric energy resources will be constructed in Azerbaijan within five years. Depending upon the capacity, the construction of one small hydroelectric power station is assessed from $600,000 to $1mln for 1 megawatt.