In Azerbaijan, land allocation issues for 11 planned renewable energy projects have almost been resolved, according to Javid Abdullayev, Director of the Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Agency (AREA), under the Ministry of Energy, said, Report informs.
Abdullayev made the remark during a press conference in Baku following the 12th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council and the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the Green Energy Advisory Council.
He explained that Azerbaijan's renewable energy potential is being developed through a three‑stage strategic approach: "The first stage, by 2027, includes the construction of solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of up to 2 gigawatts, fully integrated into the national grid. In line with national legislation, the buyer of this electricity will be the transmission system operator. The total projected investment for these projects is about $2 billion."
Abdullayev added that this stage will raise the share of renewables in total installed capacity to 33.7%, with annual production reaching around 5 billion kilowatt‑hours: "This will save more than 1.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas and reduce carbon emissions by 2.4 million tons."
The director also pointed out that land allocation issues for the planned projects have been resolved, contracts have been signed, and measures to strengthen the grid are actively underway, including the implementation of a 250‑megawatt energy storage system with a capacity of 500 megawatt‑hours.