Azernews.Az

Nazrin Abdul

Read more

At the Baku Energy Forum, SOCAR Vice-President Afgan Isayev emphasised the urgent need to establish a consortium among Caspian Sea countries to address the region's complex logistics and lack of access to open seas, Azernews reports.

“Logistics remains one of the key challenges facing Azerbaijan,” A. Isayev stated. “We do not have direct access to open waters, which makes transporting massive wind turbine blades over 90 meters long a particularly difficult task. Specialised vessels designed for offshore construction are necessary, and these ships should be built locally.”

Highlighting the benefits of regional cooperation, he proposed, “We suggest uniting with our neighbours in the Caspian region, much like we did previously in the oil and gas sector. By forming consortia and sharing costs, the entire process will become faster, more cost-effective, and efficient.”

Isayev also pointed out another significant challenge SOCAR faces: the limited capacity of the existing energy grid infrastructure to integrate variable renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. “The network must be capable of balancing supply even when wind or sunlight is unavailable,” he explained.

He added that this issue could be resolved by deploying energy storage systems using batteries, enabling a stable and reliable energy supply regardless of fluctuations in renewable energy production.