UPDATE - Azerbaijan vows to boost green transition, cooperation with Europe

UPDATES WITH MORE COMMENTS BY AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT; ADDS BACKGROUND; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - Azerbaijan’s green transition projects will enable closer energy cooperation with the EU, and will help increase gas supplies to the bloc, President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday.

Addressing the Petersberg Climate Dialogue meeting in Berlin, Aliyev said the country will be able to produce 2,000 megawatts of green and solar energy by 2027, and the capacity will further increase through new investments in the following years.

“So using this potential we will largely substitute gas consumptions for producing electricity. We will save a lot of natural gas which Europe needs. And that volumes, I think at least five additional billion cubic meters of gas, will be exported to Europe. So it's actually a win-win situation,” Aliyev said.

“At the same time we are at the final stage of feasibility study to build integrated transmission lines from Caspian offshore wind farms to Europe, including subsea cable under the Black Sea. That will allow Azerbaijani green energy, at the volume of 4 gigawatt, to be exported to Europe,” he added.

Azerbaijan has become an increasingly important energy partner for the EU in recent years, and it is currently exporting nearly 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas to European markets.

Aliyev said they are working to further expand energy cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan, on the basis of a “strategic partnership” declaration, which was signed by the parties in 2022.

"By 2027, our natural gas exports to EU should reach 20 billion cubic meters,” the president told participants at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue meeting.

“And we all understand that in this geopolitical situation, this is a sign of responsibility of Azerbaijan. We are largely investing in increasing our gas production because Europe needs more gas from new sources,” he added.