Azerbaijan to complete creation of new technical committee on alternative energy soon
The process of creation of the technical committee on alternative energy sources and energy efficiency in Azerbaijan at the initiative of the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents, will be completed soon, the state committee said.
The main purpose of creating the technical committee under the guidance of the State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources is to work out the relevant state standards.
"The works on creation of the new technical committee are carried out intensively in order to complete this process soon," the state committee said.
Azerbaijan considers the possibility of increasing the volume of electricity generated from renewable energy sources.
Creation of energy facilities with the capacity of 1,000 megawatt using alternative and renewable energy sources will allow it to export an additional one billion cubic meters of gas.
Azerbaijan has undertaken the Europe-wide commitment to increase the share of alternative energy to 20 percent of its energy balance.
The State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources estimates the cost of development of this sector at the level of five to eight billion manat per year, which is equivalent to 10 percent of GDP, or about 50 percent of the state budget expenditures.
SOCAR and German E.ON expand cooperation
The extension of cooperation between the Azerbaijani State Oil Company and the German E.ON is of great significance in terms of project implementation within the Southern Gas Corridor, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said.
Abdullayev attended the coordinating committee meeting on cooperation between two companies and congratulated the participants at the E.ON office in Baku.
The Southern Gas Corridor is a project that will allow Europe to diversify its sources of hydrocarbon supply and strengthen energy security and enable Azerbaijan to get a new market in Europe.
Among the important projects, SOCAR head also noted the plans on the expansion of the South Caucasus gas pipeline, creation of the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.
Abdullayev expressed his confidence that cooperation between the two companies will contribute to the deepening of economic relations between Azerbaijan and Germany.
Company E.ON is one of the shareholders of TAP. BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (16 percent), Total (10 percent), E.ON (nine percent) and Axpo (five percent) are also TAP shareholders.
TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and then to Western Europe.
The initial capacity of the TAP pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters per year.
Other companies that have also signed the contract, are E.ON, along with eight other companies has signed a long-term contract for the supply of gas to Europe second phase of Shah Deniz field development on September 19, 2013. The contracts on the purchase of Azerbaijani gas from the second phase of Shah Deniz field development were also signed with Shell, Bulgar gas, Gas Natural Fenosa, Gaz de France, Hera, Enel, Axpo.
As E.ON reported, within a 25-year contract, the company will purchase 40 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas. The annual volume of Azerbaijani gas purchases by the company will be 1.6 billion cubic meters.
The contract for the development of the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996. The reserves at Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 28.8 percent, Statoil - 15.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, Lukoil - 10 percent, TPAO -nine percent and SOCAR - 16.7 percent.