Oil-rich Azerbaijan wants to be net exporter of renewables with UAE's support: Energy minister

Published date19 May 2022
Publication titleLETA

An oil-rich Azerbaijan wants to be a net exporter of renewables, a top official told the Emirates News Agency (WAM), adding that the Southwest Asian country's partnership with the UAE will play a crucial role in that ambitious journey.

"Azerbaijan has been traditionally an oil and gas producer and exporter, and a net exporter of electricity as well. Now we are dynamically developing the renewable sources of energy. Together with our partners, including the United Arab Emirates, we are going to be a country that will export the green energy as well in future," said Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy, Republic of Azerbaijan.

The former Soviet republic, bordered by four countries - Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran, and the Caspian Sea, is home to the world's first oil well, dug in the mid-1800s.

Ambitious renewable energy plans

Azerbaijan has now embarked on an ambitious journey of producing renewables, Shahbazov pointed out.

"We have just recently laid foundation for a new solar power station. It is the first industrial scale renewable energy project with 100 percent investments from the UAE," the minister told WAM on the sidelines of the World Utilities Congress in Abu Dhabi last week, where he was a speaker.

Shahbazov was referring to the 230-megawatt (MW) Garadagh Solar photovoltaic (PV) Plant in Azerbaijan, being constructed by Abu Dhabi-based Masdar, one of the world's leading renewable energy companies. Masdar announced the formal start of its construction in March 2022, which is Azerbaijan's first foreign investment-based independent solar power project.

Masdar signed agreements to develop the Garadagh project, located nine kilometres northwest of the Alat settlement, in April 2021, with the plant expected to start commercial operation in 2023.

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