Tahir Jafarov: Azerbaijan's additional income from gas sales will reach $300 million a year

With the commissioning of a new thermal power plant (TPP), Azerbaijan's revenues from the sale of natural gas will increase by $200-300 million, energy expert Tahir Jafarov said commenting on the groundbreaking ceremony for the largest thermal power plant of the period of independence with a capacity of 1,280 MW, which took place yesterday at the Gulustan Palace in Baku.

Jafarov believes that Azerbaijan should pursue a marketing policy for the sale of electricity: "It is more profitable for us to sell electricity, export it in the form of finished products, than to sell raw materials. This way we get more profit than from selling gas as a raw material. If we look at prices for natural gas on the world market today, we will see that the tariffs are quite favorable, that is, the sale of natural gas is also profitable."

In general, the capacity of the new plant will exceed 1,200 megawatts, which is about half the capacity of the 'Azerbaijan' thermal power plant. Its current capacity is 2,400 MW and will be increased by about 50% to 3,600 MW.