Azerbaijan, World Bank, IFC mull offshore wind energy development

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry has discussed the development of offshore wind energy with a number of international organizations.

During the meeting with the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the international consulting company, Minister Parviz Shahbazov spoke about the country’s wind energy potential and the importance of cooperation with the IFC in this direction.

Shahbazov reminded that the preparation of the “green energy” concept by President Aliyev has been defined as a major task in the country.

He spoke about the importance of conversing offshore wind capacity into energy in order to achieve “green growth”, which is one of the priorities of the country's socio-economic development, and to increase the share of renewable energy sources to 30 percent by 2030.

The minister said that the cooperation with the IFC on determining the potential of offshore wind energy and preparing a road map will contribute to the country’s green energy goals.

The World Bank’s country manager Sarah Michael emphasized that the Bank, together with the IFC, is ready to support the development of wind energy in the sea, attracting investors to this field, and the goals of Azerbaijan related to decarbonization.

Furthermore, the sides exchanged views on the expected economic, financial, environmental and social indicators of projects under various scenarios. It was noted that the world's interest in offshore wind energy is growing.

It should be noted that a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the use of offshore wind energy between Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry and the International Finance Corporation will be signed in the near future.

The work stipulated by the memorandum of understanding will be implemented within the IFC Offshore Wind Development Program. The program is funded by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, ESMAP.

The World Bank started economic cooperation with Azerbaijan in 2001 to help increase the country’s institutional capacity and to build efficient management of oil reserves. The World Bank has always supported the large-scale reforms carried out in Azerbaijan. In addition, Azerbaijan became a member of IFC in 1995. IFC has implemented a range of advisory projects aimed at encouraging private sector growth and provided $250 million for Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.