Expert: Romania and Azerbaijan can jointly invest in renewable energy production

There are opportunities for Romania and Azerbaijan to explore joint production and investments in renewable energy production, Romanian analyst, consultant, trainer and think tanker, and the CEO of Smartlink Communications Radu Magdin told Report.

It is well-known that Romania aims to play a bigger role in the renewables sector to meet and surpass the EU targets, setting an example for the entire region, he noted.

“Moreover, the country holds key potential in terms of wind energy production, but also in terms of energy transport infrastructure,” he said.

From this point of view, the expert believes that the creation of an export cable along the bottom of the Black Sea, an agreement on which was reached in December last year by Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Hungary, is a promising project.

He reminded about the signing of a $2 billion Government Strategic Partnership Agreement between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary.

“The historic Agreement opened the way for the construction of a 1200-kilometre submarine electricity transmission cable with a capacity of 1000 MW. Thus, this project will play a significant role in diversifying Europe's energy sources across the EU,” he added.

“I believe that Romania could thus expand its gateway role for exporting renewable energy jointly to Europe. The Black Sea electric cable holds many promises and with stronger electricity interconnections in the Balkans could integrate growing share of renewables from Romania and Azerbaijan, with significant EU support,” the expert said.

He also touched upon the visit of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to Azerbaijan on February 2-3, 2023, noting that it is a milestone in the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

“The strategic partnership relationship established in 2009 between Romania and Azerbaijan is providing a framework for cooperation on regional initiatives that can truly deliver results for the entire region. The visit of President Iohannis also builds on the successful discussions held in Bucharest with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in December 2022,” Radu Magdin said.

“Additionally, during the visit, a new 2023-24 Romgaz-SOCAR contract was signed, based on an earlier agreement between Romania and Azerbaijan. This contract will ensure that Romania has access to the necessary quantities of gas, while diversifying its sources.

The two countries also discussed the consolidation of bilateral cooperation in a range of sectors, including digitalization, agriculture, trade, investment, education, and culture, which proves once again that there is a lot of room for the enhancement of bilateral relations,” he added.