ACWA Power: Azerbaijan powers new Asia–Europe energy supergrid

The Black Sea Energy Cable project is emerging as a central component of a developing transregional energy architecture that could connect Central Asia with Europe and establish a new framework for energy network development across the Eurasian region, Abid Malik, President for Central Asia at ACWA Power, said.

He made the remarks at a seminar focused on the prospects of establishing an Asian super grid, held on the sidelines of the 59th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Samarkand, noting that several energy integration platforms are already operating across Central Asia, Caliber.Az reports per local media.

Among them, the CASA-1000 project links the power systems of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and is being expanded to include Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the same time, the Central Asian Unified Energy System is functioning, covering five countries in the region, stretching from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

According to him, the CAREC program plays a significant coordinating role in advancing these initiatives, serving as a catalyst for synergy among existing projects and helping to strengthen regional energy integration.

"The key question now is how far these systems can be scaled - not only to cover all countries of the region, but also with the prospect of connecting Mongolia," he noted.

Malik also placed particular emphasis on the potential linkage of Central Asian energy networks with Azerbaijan and Georgia, eventually enabling access to European markets via the Black Sea, particularly toward Romania and Hungary.

"This is the future of energy networks. Sovereign states are beginning to see the real economic benefits of creating such interconnectors," he emphasised.

He further added that while Europe has been a leader in developing cross-border energy infrastructure, similar initiatives are now being actively explored across a wider geographical space, including plans to connect Saudi Arabia with Europe through the Middle East, the Mediterranean region, or Türkiye.

"The key factor remains political will. It is formed when the large-scale economic benefit of integrating energy systems becomes evident," he concluded.

By Jeyhun Aghazada