Azernews.Az

By Araz Said, Azernews Staff Writer

Throughout history one main energy source kept being replaced by another. First it was wood that was later replaced by coal, which, in turn, gave way to petroleum and natural gas. Today, realizing that the traditional energy sources are exhaustible and the deadline is closing, even oil-rich countries like Azerbaijan have to seriously consider switching to alternative energy.

Renewable energy use to reach 20 pct

The newly established State Agency on Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources plans to increase the share of renewable energy sources to 20 percent by 2020 and $90 million have been allocated for this purpose.

According to the head of the agency Akim Badalov, due to the high investment costs and long return on investment period, the private sector was not granted the licenses for tapping alternative energy sources. "Under the new conditions, we will improve the alternative energy sector through cooperation between state and private enterprises," Badalov said.

Alternative energy sources, including small hydro-power stations, currently meet Azerbaijan's energy demand by 10 percent.

A new solar module and LED-lamp plant opened in Sumgayit in April 2012. The Azguntech plant will produce 120,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels per year, enabling to produce 30 MWatt of electric power.

"Azerbaijan has enough alternative energy sources"

Telman Zeynalov, head of the National Center of Ecological Forecasting, believes Azerbaijan has enough sunlight, wind, thermal waters, etc., to produce alternative energy.

"Throughout the year average wind speed reaches 5-7 meters per second, which is perfect for effective exploitation of wind generators. We also have enough resources to use solar energy. The number of sunny days in Azerbaijan reaches 250-280 days per year," Zeynalov said.

Zeynalov noted that Azerbaijan is suitable for using the energy of thermal waters, especially in the northern Guba region, where the temperature of waters reaches 90 degrees at times.

Second in Pilot Trend EPI

Increased use of alternative energy sources has led to an improvement in the environmental situation in the country.

According to the Pilot Trend EPI 2012 report, Azerbaijan is the second country with the highest development rate of environmental performance, next only to Latvia.

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is used to evaluate environmental performances of countries and is developed by Yale University and Columbia University jointly with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

The new EPI report was introduced to rank countries based on their environmental performances in the last 10 years and to spot the ones that are improving and the ones that are not.

10 countries with top growth rates by Trend EPI 2012 and their overall rankings:

1. Latvia (2)

2. Azerbaijan (111)

3. Romania (88)

4. Albania (15)

5. Egypt (60)

6. Angola (90)

7. Slovakia (12)

8. Ireland (36)

9. Belgium (24)

10. Thailand (34)