Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company – Masdar, the UAE’s clean energy company and SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, have broken ground on three major solar and wind projects in Azerbaijan with a capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW).
The three projects include the 445MW Bilasuvar Solar PV Project, 315MW Neftchala Solar PV Project and the 240MW Absheron-Garadagh Onshore Wind Project. Masdar did not reveal financial details of the renewable energy projects.
Masdar and SOCAR have reached investment agreements for the projects in October 2023, signed Power Purchase Agreements, Transmission Connection Agreements, and Land Lease Agreements.
On the sidelines of Baku Energy Week, Masdar and SOCAR also signed a Shareholder Agreement for the three projects.
“Annual electricity generation of 2.3 billion kWh, saving over 500 million cubic meters of natural gas, as well as preventing more than 1 million tons of carbon emissions are the future contributions of these plants to sustainable development,” Parviz Shahbazov, Azerbaijan Minister of Energy said.
Masdar Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said: “Azerbaijan is a key strategic market for Masdar. With this groundbreaking of 1GW wind and solar projects, in partnership with SOCAR, we take a significant step forward in realizing our ambitious plan to develop up to 10GW of clean energy by 2030 in Azerbaijan.”
The groundbreaking follows Masdar’s completion of the 230MW Garadagh solar plant in October 2023, Azerbaijan’s first foreign investment-based independent solar power project, and the largest solar plant in the region.
Established in 2006, Masdar is aiming for a renewable energy portfolio capacity of 100GW by 2030, supporting the target set in The UAE Consensus to triple global renewables capacity by the end of this decade, whilst aiming to be a leading producer of green hydrogen by the same year.
IMAGE: Dr Sultan Al Jaber UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Chairman of Masdar and COP28 President; Ilham Aliyev President of Azerbaijan