Azerbaijan and FFI set to cooperate on renewable energy, green hydrogen

BAKU. Dec 15 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy and Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) have signed a framework agreement to jointly implement projects in the field of renewable energy and to study and develop the potential of green hydrogen in the country, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The agreement involves implementing projects on the production of renewable energy with a total capacity of up to 12 GW.

Recently, the Azerbaijani government has been taking consistent, strategically important steps with international energy companies in order to create large-scale capacities for the production of renewable energy and green energy export, Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said at the signing ceremony on Thursday. "As a result [...] Azerbaijan [...] will become an important and reliable partner in the export of renewable energy and hydrogen. We believe that our cooperation with Fortescue Future Industries will contribute to the energy security and energy transition of the partner-countries," Shahbazov said.

Despite being historically an oil and gas country, Azerbaijan has good opportunities to join in the green industry revolution thanks to being strategically placed in supplies of green energy to Europe, FFI Executive Chairman and Founder Andrew Forest said. Today's agreement is an important step towards a 40% reduction in greenhouse emissions in Azerbaijan by 2050, he added.

At present, the country's power grid has a capacity of 7,953.9 MW, of which 16.5% comes from renewable energy sources. Azerbaijan plans to increase that share to 30% by 2030.