Azerbaijan to increase generating capacities in 2018
By Kamila Aliyeva
A number of power facilities, which will increase the generating capacity, will be put into operation, the head of Azerenerji OJSC (energy operator of Azerbaijan), said Etibar Pirverdiyev.
The electric power system is strategic from the point of view of the country's socio-economic development, and for this reason new goals related to the future development of the industry are regularly determined, according to the head of the company.
“Our plans to expand production and improve quality in the long term are quite viable, some innovations will appear in the country's energy system this year,” Pirverdiyev said in an interview to the website of the ruling party of the country.
He noted that in 2018, Mingachevir hydro power plant (HPP) with a capacity of 424 megawatts, the reconstruction of which was carried out in 2010-2017, will be commissioned.
“The completion of the construction of the second power unit with a capacity of 409 megawatts at the Shimal-2 station in Baku is underway. It is expected that the facility will be put into operation this year. Also, a 16.5 megawatt power plant in Lerik will be commissioned in 2018,” said Pirverdiyev.
The head of the company recalled that in recent years large-scale construction of small hydroelectric power plants was also carried out in Azerbaijan.
“Several new hydro power stations are already operating successfully, and this year, it is planned to put into operation such small hydro plants as Astara-1, Oguz-1, Oguz-2 and Oguz-3,” he added.
Power plants of Azerenergy JSC, Azerbaijan’s electricity producer, generated almost 6 billion kilowatt hour of electricity in January-March 2018 as compared to around 6.04 billion kilowatt hour in the same period 2017.
In 2017, Azerenergy generated 21.9 billion kilowatt hour of electricity as compared to about 22.6 billion kilowatt hour in 2016.
Today, the country is able to fully meet its own energy needs, and seeks to supply power to the European market. Azerbaijan was able to build a strong power system in less than 20 years, conducting reconstruction and renovation of old generating capacities and creating new ones.
Currently, the generation capacity of the electric power system of Azerbaijan is 7,172.6 megawatts, which makes it possible to generate about 24 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This enables Azerbaijan to annually export 2.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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