Azerbaijan plans to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the country's energy system to 30% by 2030

The Saudi energy company ACWA Power started construction of the Khizi-Absheron wind power plant with a capacity of 240 MW on Thursday in Azerbaijan near Baku.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the power plant was attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz ibn Salman Al Saud.

According to the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan, investments in the project will amount to $300 million. These funds will be invested by the Saudi company itself. According to the Minister of Energy of the Arab country, this is the largest investment that ACWA Power will make outside of Saudi Arabia. "Thanks to this plant, we will provide electricity to 300,000 homes. At the same time, 220 million cubic meters of gas will be saved, which will reduce emissions of 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," the minister said. He also announced the intention of ACWA Power to build a 500 MW offshore wind farm in Azerbaijan.

In turn, the President of Azerbaijan stressed that the production of renewable energy is one of the main tasks on the country's energy agenda. He said that Baku is currently negotiating with a number of leading companies in the world to implement renewable energy projects in the country.

The contract for the construction of a wind farm with a capacity of 240 MW in Azerbaijan was signed between the Ministry of Energy of the Republic and ACWA Power in January 2020. The construction of the station will take two years. The power plant will annually generate 1 billion kWh of electricity. The project will consist of  40 turbines with a capacity of 6 MW each.

Azerbaijan plans to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the country's power system up to 30% by 2030.