Azerbaijan, Int'l Renewable Energy Agency eye bolstering cooperation

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) Director-General Francesco La Camera have discussed potential directions for deepening bilateral cooperation.

The discussion took place on the sidelines of the 8th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue held in Germany.

During the meeting, the minister briefed on the projects implemented and planned in Azerbaijan in the field of renewable energy.

The parties discussed promoting investors in various directions related to the use of renewable energy in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions. In this regard, Shahbazov mentioned that in accordance with the green energy zone concept, the energy demand of residential houses in the liberated territories will be provided at the expense of renewable energy sources.

He noted that solar collectors, solar panels with a capacity of more than 300 kW and 3 Archimed devices with a total capacity of 3 kW were installed on all houses in the first village.

“It is planned to continue this experiment in the future, to install solar panels and collectors in individual apartments to be built, as well as to implement projects using the potential of renewable energy sources in the area,” he said.

The sides also underlined the importance of evaluating possible cooperation in these areas.

In turn, Francesco La Camera expressed his satisfaction with the organization's cooperation with Azerbaijan and said that the organization he represents would support to assess the current opportunities.

The minister also held a meeting with the delegations led by Romanian Energy Minister Virgil-Daniel Popescu and DENU Chief Executive A.Kuhlmann.

Natural gas supply from Azerbaijan

During the meeting with Romanian Energy Minister, they discussed the future projects on the supply of natural gas from Azerbaijan and the cooperation between the relevant companies of the countries.

The parties also exchanged views on the Black Sea submarine power and digital connectivity project between Azerbaijan and Georgia and Romania. They reviewed the steps to be taken within the working group on the project.

This project was evaluated in the aspect of the export of electricity through the realization of the wind energy potential in the Caspian Sea.

Renewable energy cooperation

During the meeting with DENA Chief Executive Andreas Kuhlmann and Managing Director K.Haverkamp the parties focused on renewable energy cooperation.

The sides highly appreciated the cooperation with the agency on the development of decentralized renewable energy in Azerbaijan with the development of four pilot project proposals.

During the discussions, issues and recommendations on the implementation of pilot projects were considered, and maintaining intensive contacts was agreed upon.

In addition, the parties expressed interest in expanding cooperation with DENA on renewable energy.

Green electricity export

Parviz Shahbazov also met German Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Jörg Kukies.

During the meeting, Shahbazov stated that the construction of new cable transmission lines along the Black Sea's bottom will allow Azerbaijan to export green electricity produced to Europe. He added that the Caspian Sea's wind energy potential, which is estimated at 7.2 GW, will be realized by 2036.

"Along with green electricity, the possibility of exporting hydrogen to Europe will be considered," he said.

Furthermore, he emphasized that Azerbaijan, which has been a supplier of oil for many years, has become a gas exporter to European countries via the Southern Gas Corridor, one of the largest projects of the 21st century.

In this regard, the parties noted that the expansion of this corridor requires the solution of a number of necessary issues on the basis of multilateral cooperation.