Electricity exports soar

By Azernews

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

In recent years, Azerbaijan has turned from an electricity importing country into a country exporting electricity. Azerbaijan, which has been exporting electricity to neighboring countries for a long time, has already begun exporting energy to European countries.

In early May 2019, Azerenergy started supplying electricity to Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary through Georgia and Turkey. In the coming months, the company also plans to export electricity to Austria and Italy.

In July 2019, Azerbaijan exported 101.8 million kW/h of electricity, which is 9.8 times more than in the same period last year, Azerenergy said in a message.

The generation of electricity also increased. Azerbaijan produced 2.13 billion kW/h of electricity in July 2019, which recorded a 2.4 percent or 50 million kW/h growth compared to July 2018.

According to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan, the volume of electricity generation in the first half of 2019 amounted to 11.967 billion kW/h, which is a growth by 5.6 percent compared to the same period of 2018.

Thermal power plants of Azerenergy generated 10.611 billion kW/h of commercial electricity (an increase of 7.1 percent) and hydroelectric power stations produced 859 million kW/h in the first half of 2019.

Azerenergy is the main exporter of electric energy in Azerbaijan. The total power generation capacity of its stations exceeds 6,000 MW, which allows generating about 24 billion kWh of electricity annually.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the volume of electricity generation in Azerbaijan in 2018 amounted to 25.256 billion kW/h, which is 13.7 percent more than in 2017.

The electricity exports to Russia, Georgia, Iran and Turkey increased by 175 million kilowatt-hours or 14.2 percent in 2018 compared to 2017.