Approximately $500 million needs to be spent on modernising Azerbaijan’s energy grid, Report informs, citing Deputy Energy Minister Elnur Soltanov at the “Technovation” Forum held in Baku on the theme “Sustainability and Energy Transformation”.
According to him, while renewable energy is beneficial for the environment and can replace natural gas, it is also expensive. “We intend to generate two gigawatts of renewable energy. Masdar from the UAE is currently our strategic partner in this field. By 2027, Azerbaijan will have two gigawatts of renewable energy. That is a major achievement. Together with the projects carried out in Mingachevir, where the country’s largest power plant with a capacity of 2.4 gigawatts is located, we have replaced the old Soviet‑era gas turbines with new ones.”
He noted that the efficiency of that plant has already increased by 30%. “The two gigawatts built by 2027, plus the modernisation in Mingachevir, will save approximately 1.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas. In a sense, we have discovered a new ‘Absheron’ gas field. The costs to integrate those two gigawatts of renewable energy into the grid system are very high.”
The Deputy Minister also pointed out that natural gas has a significant alternative value: “This gas can be exported to European markets at higher prices, and then those revenues can be returned to the national economy. Increasing the share of renewables in the energy balance made economic sense for us, and it was certainly beneficial for the environment.”
Soltanov added that grids are very sensitive technologically and must be treated with great care.
https://report.az/en/energy/elnur-soltanov-modernizing-azerbaijan-s-energy-grid-requires-500m