Saudi energy company ACWA Power started construction of the 240 MW Khizi-Apsheron wind farm in Azerbaijan, near Baku, on Thursday.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Energy Minister of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud attended the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the power station, the website of the Azerbaijani president reported.
According to the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan, the investment in the project will total $300 mln. According to the Arab country's energy minister, this is the largest investment that ACWA Power will make outside 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 the emission of 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," the minister said. He also informed of ACWA Power's intention to build a 500 MW offshore wind farm in Azerbaijan.
In turn the president of Azerbaijan stressed that production of renewable energy is one of the main objectives in the country's energy agenda. He said that at present Baku is holding talks with a number of leading companies of the world for implementation of projects in the field of renewable energy in the country.
The contract on construction of wind farm with capacity of 240 MW in Azerbaijan was signed between the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan and ACWA Power in January 2020. Construction of the station will take two years. The power plant will annually produce 1 billion kWh of electricity. The project will include the installation of 40 turbines with a capacity of 6 MW each.
Azerbaijan plans to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the country's energy system to 30% by 2030.
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Based on materials from TASS