Minister of Energy: 'Azerbaijan intends to supply the green energy potential of the Caspian Sea to Europe as electricity, green hydrogen and ammonia”

Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov made a speech at the 9th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue Conference.

In the speech, the development of renewable energy, defined by the president of Azerbaijan as one of the priorities of the country's socio-economic development strategy, was brought to attention mainly in terms of contributing to the energy security of partner countries. Recalling the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Azerbaijan and the European Union on strategic partnership in the energy sector last year, the Minister of Energy said that Azerbaijan has been supplying the world oil market with crude oil and oil products for many years: "For more than two years we have been supplying natural gas to the European energy market. Now we are working with the European Commission to double the volume of natural gas supplies, because our partners from Europe have turned to us with a request to increase these volumes in the light of the war between Russia and Ukraine and the general energy crisis."

The Minister of Energy spoke about the reforms carried out in recent years for the development of renewable energy sources, the development of new legislative acts and the creation of an investment climate. It was noted that Azerbaijan's policy on green energy is aimed at attracting foreign companies, not state financial resources, to the development of this area. It was underlined that 710 MW wind and solar energy projects have already been implemented with foreign investors, and cooperation documents on production capacities of about 25 GW have been signed. This potential and the intention of our country to supply green energy to Europe on the basis of the Agreement signed last December among Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary on the development and transmission of green energy were expressed: "We have a wind potential of 157 GW in the Caspian Sea. We can supply it to the European Union through high-voltage lines in the form of electricity, green hydrogen, ammonia. Four countries are working on this together with the European Commission and private companies."

The issues of integrating renewable energy into the country's energy system and establishing a balance between renewable and traditional energy sources were also touched upon in the speech. It was noted that cooperation in this direction with Tetra Tech, US and Efra, Türkiye companies is planned to integrate renewable energy capacities up to 2 thousand MW into the energy system.

Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that green energy is the energy of the future. However we need to think about the rational implementation of the energy transition.