ntegrating energy systems of different regions into a common grid would allow states to significantly expand the use of renewable energy sources, Report informs, citing Abdulla Zayed, Director of Business and Project Development at Masdar, speaking at the 31st Baku Energy Forum.
“It is essential to have political consensus among all countries seeking to connect their energy systems. I believe, as the Deputy Energy Minister noted, such an agreement currently exists. We are seeing significant activity in discussions among governments and states regarding interconnections, their importance, energy security, and related issues. This is one of the key factors needed to initiate a top‑down process involving all stakeholders – from regulators and developers to financial institutions ready to support such initiatives,” Zayed said.
According to the Masdar representative, the second critically important element is the commercial structure. “A stable regulatory and legal framework that is attractive to the banking sector and ensures the operation of this common grid is required. Interconnection involves electricity generation, the infrastructure itself, substations, transformer equipment, and all related elements. Establishing a financially sustainable structure will increase the volume of transactions and implemented projects across all participating countries. This will enable developers and investors to attract financing, which will further accelerate both the expansion of generation capacity and the construction of necessary grid infrastructure, including transmission lines and other facilities,” he added.
He noted that the third element is the technical component, particularly electricity transmission issues, which in his assessment is the most critical aspect.
“Many states aspire to large‑scale renewable energy development but lack the capability due to the current state of their power grids and the intermittency of renewable generation, which they cannot yet efficiently manage. Integrating into a common regional grid would allow states to more actively deploy renewable energy sources that have already proven to be economically viable. This would, in turn, lead to greater energy affordability across different regions and optimisation of the overall grid infrastructure.
“However, to realise this intent, the third most important component is the proper planning of cross‑border electricity transmission among all participants of the unified grid. At the initial stage, countries must develop a precise plan and conduct forecast assessments: what volume of demand and supply will be generated by each state across different energy corridors,” Zayed emphasised.
https://report.az/en/energy/masdar-integrated-power-grids-to-boost-renewable-energy-use