UAE’s Masdar to develop 4GW renewable projects in Azerbaijan

WAM

UAE’s renewable energy firm Masdar has signed joint development agreements with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Socar) for onshore wind and solar projects, and integrated offshore wind and green hydrogen projects, state-owned WAM news agency reported.

The projects will have a total combined capacity of 4 gigawatts (GW).

Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, minister of industry and advanced technology and chairman of Masdar, said: “These agreements will strengthen the already powerful relationship between the UAE and Azerbaijan and our shared commitment to diversifying our energy mix and developing low- and zero-carbon solutions.”

In June last year, Masdar signed agreements with Azerbaijan’s energy ministry to develop a renewable energy program on a bilateral basis, with a total capacity of 10GW across multiple technologies.

Socar is an integrated national oil and gas company supporting Azerbaijan’s energy security by pursuing a national target of producing 30 percent of its domestic power needs from renewable energy sources by 2030.

Meanwhile, Masdar is developing the 230-megawatt Garadagh Solar PV Plant in Azerbaijan. The plant will help generate half a billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to meet the needs of more than 110,000 homes and reduce emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes a year, WAM said.

In November, the company signed an agreement with its Egyptian partners to develop a 10GW onshore wind farm project in Egypt.