Minister: New contract on energy projects to be signed in Shusha

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Shusha- the historic Azerbaijani city in Karabakh - will play host to the signing of a new energy contract in two days, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov broke the news.

He made the remarks during the opening speech at the 27th Baku Energy Forum.

“Such sustainable initiatives show prompt international interest in the green energy course of the Azerbaijani president, which sets renewable energy sources as a strategic priority in the country's development,” he said.

The minister noted that this is a proper reaction of investors to the call for the use of the rich renewable energy potential of the country’s liberated territories in the green energy zone concept with zero emissions.

“The center of Azerbaijan's transformation into a green growth country is Karabakh-Eastern Zangazur as a green energy zone based on the use of fully renewable energy and the Caspian Sea, which has a potential of wind energy of 157 GW, and these geostrategic places will also be the source of green energy exports from Azerbaijan,” he said.

Shahbazov added that the export routes include the Zangazur corridor and new transmission lines planned over the Black Sea.

Noting that Azerbaijan’s green agenda, supported by multidisciplinary reforms in the energy sector, coincides with global development trends, the minister stated that Azerbaijan will be the country expanding energy partnerships with neighboring countries and Europe on many alternative sources thanks to the export of gas, green energy, and clean hydrogen to be saved ahead.

Moreover, stating that the global energy architecture has been redesigned in line with energy security and climate challenges, he noted that green energy is the preferred source of diversification in energy supply. He added that such a synergy of energy security and decarbonization is the modern global trend that accelerates the green energy transition and turns it into a driver of energy independence.

“In a complex reality, the new solutions focus on the development of energy countries, as are netto-energy importers, where about 80 percent of the world's population lives. The transformation of this traditional oil and gas platform into an energy forum is a manifestation of changes in the national energy sector,” he said.

Speaking about the country’s gas export, Shahbazov stated that today Azerbaijani gas accounts for 13-90 percent of the total gas consumption of different countries.

“Some 29 billion cubic meters have been transported to Turkey and Europe via TANAP and TAP up to now, and 6.8 billion cubic meters of gas in five months of this year. It is expected that by the end of the year this figure will reach 16 billion cubic meters, and the export of Azerbaijani gas to Europe will exceed 10 billion cubic meters,” he said.

Shahbazov also took part in discussions on new opportunities and challenges in the changing world during the energy transition.