Sunny Azerbaijan, windy Absheron peninsula. These natural resources are ready to contribute to the development of alternative and renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan. There are already projects regarding this. Within the framework of the renewable energy projects, agreements have been signed with Saudi Arabia's "ACWA Power" and the UAE's "Masdar" companies.  

In accordance with the agreements, a project on the construction of the 240 mWt wind power plant will be implemented with the "ACWA Power" company, and a project on the construction of the 220 mWt sun power plant will be executed with the "Masdar" company. 400 mln USD will be invested in both projects.

Executive director of the "ACWA Power" Tom Teerlynck noted that Azerbaijan has big potential in the field of renewable energy.

After the projects on the renewable energy with 440 mWt are implemented, it will be possible to save 300 million cubic meters of gas. In turn, it makes 10% of the country's population's demand for gas. For comparison, we should say the 440 mWt electric energy is more than the energy used by Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, or it is equal to the energy supply of approximately 200, 000 families.

It is noteworthy that annually, 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas are utilized for the energy supply of the country. The population utilizes 3 billion cubic meters of gas.

The target is to be able to obtain 30% of the produced energy from renewable energy sources. All this was discussed at the training-seminar on the development of the usage of renewable energy sources.

Last year, the share of renewable energy sources in the electricity production across the country made 7.3%. Natural gas was used for producing the rest 93% of electricity. Charcoal and diesel are almost not used for obtaining electric energy in Azerbaijan. It is a contribution to the environmental protection in the period of global warming.

Ali Rzayev