Azerbaijani minister: Gas to play important role in energy transition

Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov has said that natural gas has been recently playing an important role in the socio-economic development of countries, as well as in the energy transition.

Shahbazov made the remarks at the Russian Energy Week Forum in Moscow on October 12, Report informs.

“This sends us a clear message that natural gas will play a very important role in the coming decades as one of the key components of the energy transition,” the minister noted.

He said that today "green energy" is developing quite dynamically.

"To understand this, it is enough to consider the ongoing events in this sphere, the investments and capacities in it," Shahbazov said.

The minister noted that 250 gigawatts of renewable energy have already been produced in the world in 2021, and $360 billion have been invested in this sphere.

“This is more than the funds invested in hydrocarbon resources. All these facts also show that green energy will continue developing,” the minister said.

He said that the key point here is the sensitivity of this process.

“Of course, we need a logical process of energy transition. As a result of the global energy crisis that we are all experiencing, natural gas is considered today as the most important energy resource,” Shahbazov said.

The minister said that at present, green energy has a rather strong international political and investment support.

“The countries that have already ensured their energy security are able to more optimally implement their own energy transition to green energy. Azerbaijan, being a traditional oil and gas producing country, is taking very important measures in this regard,” he said.

“Azerbaijan has already reached agreements on the implementation of projects with foreign investments related to the production of wind and solar electricity with a capacity of 4,700 megawatts. At the next stage, we plan to implement the projects with an energy capacity of six more gigawatts,” he said.

Shahbazov noted that there is also a potential for solar and wind energy with a total volume of 26 gigawatts onshore in Azerbaijan.