First Major Solar Power Plant Takes Shape In Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has begun installation of solar panels at its 230 MW Garadagh plant, the country’s first major solar power plant.

Developed by United Arab Emirates-based renewable energy company Masdar, the plant is expected to be operating by the end of this year, producing 500 gigawatt hours (GWh) annually.

Azerbaijan has been encouraging the development of new renewable energy projects with the aim of meeting 30 percent of the country’s power demand from renewables by 2030.

Baku believes that by developing its renewable energy potential, it can reduce its dependence on natural gas for power generation, freeing up more gas for export thus maintaining its export revenues as production from the country’s oil fields declines.

The Garadagh plant alone is expected to generate sufficient power to save an annual 110 million cubic meters of gas

The potential to reduce the use of gas for power generation is certainly real.

According to the most recent official data over the first five months of this year, 93 percent of the 11.887 GWh of power Azerbaijan’s power plants produced came from plants burning gas, and just 6.1 percent from the country’s hydro, wind, and solar plants.

This imbalance highlights the significance of the start of work on the Garadagh plant for Azerbaijan’s renewable energy plans.

As the first independent, foreign investment-based independent “utility-scale” solar power plant, the project offers some level of confirmation that Baku’s efforts to get foreign investors to develop its renewable energy potential can bear fruit.

Up to now, Baku has proved adept at generating interest and signing vague non-binding agreements for new renewable energy projects, but unsuccessful at getting the projects developed.

At the Baku Energy Week Forum earlier this month, Azerbaijan signed “cooperation agreements” for the development of 900 MW of wind and solar power capacity with Total Energies and Nobel Energy, of which 650MW will be in the Azeri enclave of Nakhchivan, including a 400 MW solar power plant to be developed by Nobel.

Also at the start of June, Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with China Gezhouba Group Overseas Investment for a potential 2 GW of renewable energy projects.

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