New priorities for SGC and renewable energy cooperation were discussed with EBRD President

A meeting was held with a delegation led by Odile Renaud-Basso, EBRD President at the Ministry of Energy.

At the meeting, the projects implemented and planned in the energy sector, which play an important role in long-term and broad cooperation with the EBRD, as well as new partnership opportunities, were evaluated. 

Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov reviewed the development of cooperation with the EBRD within the priorities of the global energy agendaand stressed the importance of the Bank's participation in the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor. Stressing that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Azerbaijan and the European Union on strategic partnership in the energy sector formed the basis for the expansion of the project, the Minister said that more than 10 countries are interested in partnership with Azerbaijan in the supply of natural gas. Financial support for the SGC is necessary in order to extract rich natural gas resources and transport them in larger volumes to European countries: " Financing the Southern Gas Corridor will contribute to the energy transition. This will prevent a return to coal, which is the result of the energy crisis with the supply of more natural gas. At the same time, SGC resource sources will be diversified in the example of hydrogen transportation”.

During the meeting, the Bank's support for the development of Garadagh Solar Power Plant and Khizi-Absheron Wind Power Plant was highly appreciated. The progress of projects to support the holding of renewable energy auctions, the implementation of the necessary regulatory framework for small-scale renewable energy projects and the activities of the Energy Regulatory Agency was reviewed. Also, the steps to be taken within the cooperation on low-carbon solutions in the energy sector, on the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) were discussed. It was noted that the plans for the creation of larger production capacities in the field of renewable energy in Azerbaijan and the implementation of 6 thousand MW projects in the Caspian Sea at the initial stage actualize the improvement of the network, and this is one of the main conditions for the future development of the renewable energy sector.

The EBRD President said that investment opportunities for cooperation in the listed areas will be evaluated and they are ready to support the strengthening of the network.

It should be noted that the Ministry and the EBRD plan to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on technical support for the development of the energy sector. The document covers a new cooperation agenda, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, development of the low-carbon energy sector, reduction of methane emissions and hydrogen technologies.