BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 18. Clean EnergyJabrayil LLC and Baku Steel Company have signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) to collaborate on a solar power project aimedat supplying renewable energy to Baku Steel Company via the centralgrid network, Trend reports. Contact online >>
BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 18. Clean EnergyJabrayil LLC and Baku Steel Company have signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) to collaborate on a solar power project aimedat supplying renewable energy to Baku Steel Company via the centralgrid network, Trend reports.
The project, which involves the development of a 100 MW solarpower plant in the Soltanli village of Jabrayil, consists of twoparts: Shams and Horizon solar stations, each with a 50 MWcapacity. The solar power generated will be used to meet the energyneeds of the local manufacturing sector. The energy from both solarplants will be supplied to Baku Steel Company, along with otherofftakers.
The solar plants will be developed by two dedicated investmentvehicles, Enerso Jabrayil, a Nobel Energy subsidiary and CleanEnergy Jabrayil by Clean Energy Investment LLC, each committed todriving green energy initiatives.
This initiative supports Azerbaijan''s green energy transitionstrategy and contributes to the country''s sustainable developmentgoals.
BAKU, Azerbaijan – A visit to Azerbaijan''s capital city, Baku, where the annual United Nations climate summit will be held at the end of 2024 can be a jarring experience.
From the plane window overlooking the glittering Caspian Sea to a site just behind the Baku Olympic Stadium where the COP29 conference will be held in November, the oil rigs and oil wells are impossible to miss.
In the distant hills of Garadagh, a 230MW-peak solar plant sits on more than 550ha of fallow land that was previously used for grazing.
Developed by Emirati state-owned renewable company Masdar, the project alone has increased the country''s renewable capacity from around 16 per cent of its total energy mix to 20.3 per cent since it was completed in February.
A country that straddles both Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan is walking a tightrope when it comes to climate action, having to balance its fossil fuel-backed developmental aspirations with emissions reductions, a situation confronting many other countries.
All eyes will be on Azerbaijan''s climate strategy in 2024, given that it will be hosting a major climate conference where the urgency of bringing down fossil fuel use will be in the spotlight.
After all, oil is the driver behind the petrostate''s rise from rags to riches since the 1990s; and the country continues to rely on oil and gas for some 90 per cent of its export revenue and 60 per cent of its government''s budget, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
But, at the same time, Azerbaijan has been aggressively scaling up its use of green energy, aiming to reach its target of 30 per cent renewable capacity by 2030.
Ahead of COP29, which will be held from Nov 11 to 22, The Straits Times in early June visited Baku, on a media trip organised by the COP29 presidency, to have a closer look at how the country is navigating the green transition.
Similar to Singapore, Azerbaijan''s energy mix includes about 90 per cent from natural gas. Singapore relies on this fossil fuel for about 95 per cent of its energy needs.
Both countries, however, are trying to do more to incorporate cleaner sources of energy into their energy portfolio, although their strategies for doing so are different.
Singapore, for instance, can do only so much to harness more renewable energy due to its lack of land and access to renewable energy from wind or hydropower. As such, it is maximising rooftop and reservoir space for solar deployment, and importing renewable electricity from its neighbours.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is ramping up its drive to harness more renewable energy.
Currently, its electricity generation from renewables, which is mainly hydropower, stands at only 7 per cent to 8 per cent of its total energy consumption, owing to intermittency due to nightfall or when there is cloud cover.
But the country has eight more projects of around 2GW, or 2,000MW, of wind and solar power generation in the works, highlighting its vastly untapped renewable potential.
Mr Kamran Huseynov, deputy director of Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Agency, which is under the country''s Ministry of Energy, told reporters: "We had the initial target of achieving 30 per cent renewable capacity by 2030, but we intend to add these 2GW of clean energy by 2027, 2028... If you add it to the grid, we would have reached around 32 (per cent), 33 per cent (of renewable capacity)."
Mr Hikmet Hajiyev, the foreign policy adviser to President Ilham Aliyev, said that with the annual climate summit now looming closer, the country hopes to demonstrate that it is "leading by example" in its green energy transition, despite it being a fossil fuel exporter and its long history with oil.
Azerbaijan also hopes to transform its economy and become a renewable energy exporter, Mr Hajiyev added.
To do so, it has been "working very hard" and studying all "components and configurations" of its economy to determine if it would be feasible for them to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at the earliest, he added.
Many governments, including those in Singapore, Japan, the European Union (EU) and Australia, have outlined long-term targets of bringing down their carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 under the Paris Agreement, the world''s climate treaty.
This target is in line with climate scientists'' recommendation of capping global warming at 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial temperatures, which can help the world avert the more catastrophic impacts of climate change.
Azerbaijan has yet to commit to a net-zero goal by 2050. Instead, its target is to cut emissions from 1990 levels by 40 per cent by 2050, though this will be contingent on international support through technology transfer, financing and capacity building.
On Azerbaijan''s recent indication that it is striving towards a net-zero goal, some sceptics say the country is merely trying to burnish its green credentials as it faces scrutiny as the COP29 host.
But others point out that Azerbaijan''s economic transition can be a "lighthouse" for other fossil fuel-producing economies to follow.
Azerbaijan''s renewable push has put it in good stead to meet the global goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, and doubling energy efficiency by 2025.
A spokesman for the International Renewable Energy Agency said that Azerbaijan is among the first to commit to this goal, and is making good progress.
Observers whom ST spoke to noted that Azerbaijan has created a favourable regulatory environment that helps attract foreign investments to its burgeoning renewable energy sector.
While the government does not directly invest in renewable energy projects, project developers are given incentives such as free land leases for projects that produce 100MW or more of clean energy, said Mr Huseynov.
Clean energy generated from each plant will have a guaranteed electricity buyer, that is AzerEnerji, the state-owned electricity producer, he added.
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