Azerbaijan signs deal to export green electricity to Europe

Azerbaijan signed a strategic partnership agreement with Turkey, Bulgaria and Georgia on clean energy at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, creating a framework to export electricity from renewable sources to Turkish and European markets, statements from the countries' energy ministries said. 

The document covers clean electricity transmission and supply, the conditions for secure and uninterrupted transmission, and upgrades to fibre-optic communications along the route.

"This initiative will contribute to the export of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan to the Turkish and European markets, strengthening the energy security of partner countries, and transforming our country into an interregional electricity hub," Azerbaijan's energy ministry said. 

Georgia's Kvrivishvili said the cooperation opens new opportunities for supplying electricity to European Union countries.

Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov signed for Azerbaijan, alongside Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, Georgia's Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili, and Bulgaria's Energy Minister Iva Petrova.

Azerbaijan's Deputy Energy Minister Orkhan Zeynalov said the planned corridor would carry power from Azerbaijan to Georgia, then through Turkey and Bulgaria to Europe, Report news agency reported. He told journalists at the Azerbaijan pavilion that the Caspian-Black Sea-Europe project is at a more advanced stage than other proposals, with its feasibility study completed. The target is a final investment decision between 2028 and 2029, and commissioning of the first line, with a capacity of 1.3 GW, in 2032.

Zeynalov said a separate cable under the Caspian Sea would link the power systems of Azerbaijan and Central Asia for the first time. Exports from mainland Azerbaijan to Turkey via the Zangezur corridor and Nakhchivan are also under discussion. Analysis by private consortiums indicates demand of 1 GW in western Turkey, particularly near Istanbul, he said. He described the Nakhchivan–Erzurum–Istanbul route as commercially promising.

Bayraktar said Ankara is also discussing a Black Sea subsea power cable with Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia and Romania, to move large volumes of electricity east to west and north to south. He said the energy transition requires about $300bn of investment over the next 14 to 15 years, and called for financing from international institutions including the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as foreign direct investment.

Shahbazov said he presented the Caspian's wind potential at a ministers and investors session on wind investment, and invited international financial institutions and companies to take part in Azerbaijan's projects. He also discussed global energy issues with International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol, who said talks covered how Antalya can build on COP29 outcomes, including the Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge.

President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Turkey on November 10 at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's invitation to attend the COP31 Leaders' Summit. Turkey's Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz visited the Azerbaijan pavilion and met Shahbazov. COP31 president Murat Kurum thanked Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 president and Aliyev's special representative for climate issues, for passing on experience from Baku's presidency.