Azerbaijan to Export Electricity to Bulgaria via Turkey
Azerbaijan plans to start exporting electricity to Bulgaria through the territory of Turkey, the head of Azerenergy JSC, Etibar Pirverdiyev, announced.
“Some years ago, the leadership of Azerbaijan set the task of exporting electric power to Turkey and gradually increasing in volume,” Pirverdiyev noted. “Work in this direction is ongoing. Exports of electricity through Turkey to Greece are ensured, starting this year. Now, negotiations have begun on the supply of electricity from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria through Turkey.”
The Head of Azerenerji did not specify what volumes of electricity exports to Bulgaria are being discussed, but he did point out that at present Azerbaijan occupies an important position in the balance of the electric energy of Turkey.
He added that work is underway to create a North-South energy corridor between Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia, as well as an East-West energy corridor, which provides for the unification of the energy systems of Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia, as well as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran.
“I hope that urgent measures to increase the generation capacity of the energy system and upgrade the transmission infrastructure, taking into account the favorable geographical position of Azerbaijan, will allow the country to become the leader in the region for the export and transit of electricity,” he stressed.
As reported, Azerbaijan in 2017 exported 1 billion 160 million 196,03 thousand kW / hour for $50 million 968.96 thousand. Total exports to Russia were 124 million 413.86 thousand kW / h of electricity for $7 million 107.08 thousand, to Georgia - 891 million 22.52 thousand kW / hour for $37 million 573.68 thousand, to Turkey - 101 million 469.64 thousand kW / hour for $5 million 73.48 thousand and to Iran - 43 million 290 thousand kW / hour for the amount of $1 million 214.71 thousand.
Power generation helps Azerbaijan to create an annual export potential of several billion kWh. To export surplus electricity, Azerbaijan has its eyes on several major projects, including the Energy Bridge Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, which will allow Azerbaijan to export to Europe about 700 MW of electricity a year.
By Dimitri Dolaberidze