President: Azerbaijan's green energy potential to open new opportunities for Europe

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that the country's green energy potential will open new opportunities for Europe.

He made the remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony for a Mingachevir-based 1,280-MW thermal power plant, the largest in Azerbaijan's independence period, held at Baku's Gulustan Palace on February 13, Azertag reports.

“I am sure that we will reach our goals in all these directions, and just like in the oil and gas projects, Azerbaijan's electricity will also be delivered to Europe. For this purpose, a relevant agreement was signed in December last year, and Azerbaijan's potential, including green energy potential, will open new opportunities for Europe,” Aliyev said.

The president noted that Azerbaijan will build the thermal power station along with foreign partners.

“I should note that we will build this station together with foreign partners. Today's ceremony is being attended by Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy [Adolfo Urso]. I sincerely welcome the distinguished guest. At the same time, a Chinese company will participate in the construction of this station. So, we will do this work within the framework of foreign cooperation,” he said.

The head of state stressed that renewable energy is currently given greater priority in the world and in Europe, including Azerbaijan.

"We have already achieved great success in this field. Nevertheless, the benefits of traditional resources and traditional stations are also obvious," he said.

The head of state underlined Azerbaijan is exploring the energy potential of the liberated Karabakh and East Zangazur regions.

“The relations between Azerenergy and the Italian company Ansaldo play a key role here. I should bring to your attention that the contracts between Azerenergy and Ansaldo were signed immediately after the second Karabakh war. At a time when large-scale construction and restoration work is going on in the liberated Karabakh and East Zangazur, the energy potential of that region is being explored in the first place, and Ansaldo and Azerenergy are working in this direction as part of this partnership,” he said.

The president said that power engineering in Azerbaijan has developed rapidly and successfully in recent years.

"Over the past 20 years, 34 power plants have been built in Azerbaijan, and the generation capacity of these plants is approximately 3400 megawatts,” Aliyev said.

“Just for comparison, I can say that currently, our total generation capacity is 7,200 megawatts, of which 3,400 megawatts have been created over the past 20 years. Now imagine if we had not done so, if we had not made this issue a priority, our economic and industrial development could be in question now. Today we would not be able to provide for our own energy security. That is, all work was done on time and with proper sequence,” the head of state underlined.