‘Global energy firms keen in Azerbaijan’s renewable energy’

DM Monitoring

BAKU: The world’s biggest energy companies are interested in producing renewable energy in Azerbaijan today, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during his speech at the meeting with power engineers after viewing the construction of a 330/220/110 kV Gobu substation with a capacity of 1,000 megawatt and laying of a foundation stone for a 385-megawatt Gobu Power Station, media reports.
“I can note that despite the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy of practically all countries – the economic recession in some developed countries is even at the level of 10-15-20 percent – I believe that the economic situation in Azerbaijan in seven months of this year is satisfactory, the economy has decreased by only 2.8 percent. However, we must also take into account that the oil price has dropped, which has a negative impact on our economic development. At the same time, as a result of the OPEC+ agreement, our production has slightly decreased as well. However, there is growth in industry, including the non-oil industry, and this growth constitutes 13 percent in the first seven months of this year. These are the realities of today’s Azerbaijan,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
He noted that we are using and should continue to use our energy potential to the maximum.
“It is gratifying that the world’s biggest energy companies are interested in producing renewable energy in Azerbaijan today, and this interest is already being realized. At the beginning of the year, relevant documents were signed with two large international companies on the construction of solar and wind power plants with a capacity of 440 megawatts,” the head of state said.
Azerbaijani president noted that the creation of 440 megawatts of renewable energy in Azerbaijan, with the state of Azerbaijan not spending a single manat of its own, is a manifestation of confidence in us, a manifestation of confidence in the future, stable future and development of Azerbaijan.
“At the same time, I would like to inform local and foreign companies that we are determined to continue our work on the production of traditional energy sources. We are inviting foreign and local investors to build thermal power plants, we want to attract them. We also want to involve them in the construction of hydropower and other renewable energy plants. If there is such an interest, I think that this issue can be resolved in a short time because a lot is being done in the field of investment in Azerbaijan and the business environment is improving,” President Ilham Aliyev said.