Masdar joins with Socar Green and Acwa Power to develop offshore wind projects in Azerbaijan

Abu Dhabi’s clean energy company Masdar is to work with Socar Green and Acwa Power to explore the development of offshore wind projects in Azerbaijan with capacity of 3.5 gigawatts, to help the country boost its renewable sector.

The three companies signed an initial agreement at the Cop29 climate change summit in Baku to develop new projects in the Caspian Sea. The initiative will mark Azerbaijan’s first foray into the offshore wind sector.

The agreement supports plans by Baku to develop renewable energy, green hydrogen and water desalination projects, the companies said in a statement on Friday.

“Azerbaijan is a key strategic partner for Masdar and the signing of this memorandum of understanding with our partners today paves the way to accelerate the scale of Azerbaijan’s clean energy vision,” said Mohamed Al Ramahi, chief executive of Masdar.

Masdar, owned jointly by Adnoc, Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company – better known as Taqa, is already active in Azerbaijan. Its existing projects include the 230 megawatt capacity Garadagh, the 315MW Neftchala and the 445MW Bilasuvar solar power plants. Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power is also developing the 240MW Khizi-Absheron wind power plant after entering Azerbaijan in 2019.

Azerbaijan, which largely relies on natural gas to meet its energy needs, plans to increase its installed power capacity to 30 per cent from renewable sources by 2030, in an effort to diversify its economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

“We aim to unlock the vast offshore wind potential of the Caspian Sea, supporting Azerbaijan’s energy transition targets,” Socar president Rovshan Najaf said.

Countries around the world are boosting investments in the renewable energy sector to cut emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures.

International investment in renewable energy must triple to $1.5 trillion a year by 2030 to meet the global goal of tripling renewables. Despite record spending of $570 billion last year, current national plans are set to deliver only half of the required renewable power growth, the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency said in a report last month.

To meet the global goals, installed renewable capacity needs to reach 11.2 terawatts by 2030, from the current levels of 3.9TW.

Since Masdar was established in 2006, it has developed and partnered in projects in more than 40 countries, with a mandate to increase its renewable energy portfolio capacity to 100GW by 2030, from about 20GW at present.

This week, it signed an initial agreement with Albania's state power utility Kesh to explore the development of “gigawatt-scale” renewable projects in the country. The joint venture will develop and operate solar, wind and hybrid projects, with potential integration of battery storage, Masdar said. The energy produced is expected to be supplied to the Albanian market and exported to neighbouring countries.