Liberation of Azerbaijan’s territories to open new opportunities for regional development

21 January 2021 13:36 (UTC+04:00)

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By Ayya Lmahamad

The recent liberation of Azerbaijan’s Armenian-occupied territories has opened new opportunities for a sustainable development in the region, Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov has said.

Shahbazov made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the Eleventh Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency and High Level Panel on “Energy Transition for Sustainable Post-COVID Recovery” held in the format of videconference on January 18.

The minister emphasized that upon President Ilham Aliyev’s instructions, the “occupied zone” has been transformed into a “green energy zone”.

He reminded that Azerbaijan has the task of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in total installed capacity to 30% by 2030. As a result of signed decrees, a favorable investment climate has been set in the field of using renewable energy sources in the country, as in other areas of energy in order to attract private investments and facilitate large-scale projects, the minister said.

It was highlighted that the relevant law was drafted and auctions were organized on the use of renewables in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Furthermore, investment, power purchase, network connection agreements on the wind power plants that were signed with Acwa Power were noted. The minister added that negotiations with Masdar company for the signing of final agreements on the solar power plant project are underway.

High-level officials from more than 180 countries and representatives of international organizations attended the event.

Topics such as the impact of the global pandemic on the world economy and the energy sector, global trends in the use of renewable energy sources, investments in this area, climate problems and the impact of policies on sustainable energy transitions were discussed during the meeting.

Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad