Azerbaijan plans to create 21 GW of additional energy capacity in 2031-2037

BAKU. Nov 15 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan is planning to build 21 GW of additional energy capacity by 2038, Deputy Energy Minister Orkhan Zeynalov said during a ministerial meeting on energy initiatives held as part of the COP29 conference in Baku on Friday.

"We are planning an additional 21 GW [of capacity] in 2031 to 2037, including renewable energy sources, hydrogen, decarbonized and other projects," he said.

The country's national grid will not be able to consume such large amounts, and an application will have to be found for them, he said. "We therefore need a reliable network of regional interconnectors," he said.

Azerbaijan is currently implementing initiatives to create several green energy corridors, which are extremely important including for reducing prices, he said. In particular, a feasibility study for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Europe corridor is currently being carried out.

"We have another two important corridors. One of them is [the] Central Asia-Azerbaijan [Corridor], regarding which three heads of state signed an intergovernmental agreement two days ago, and we will soon begin the feasibility study for this project," he said.

A feasibility study for creating an Azerbaijan-Turkey green energy corridor with a capacity of 1.5 GW is also being carried out.

"I hope that we have every opportunity for these last two corridors to be joined together in the future," he said.

By 2030, Azerbaijan plans to produce 7 GW of electricity from renewable sources, 5 GW of which will be exported, he said.