Cooperation opportunities with World Bank in energy sector evaluated across several fields
Baku, May 20, AZERTAC
Parviz Shahbazov, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Energy, met with Valerie Levkov, World Bank Group Vice President for Infrastructure, to discuss expanding cooperation in renewable energy, power grid modernization, energy efficiency, and regional energy interconnections.
The sides noted that successful cooperation has been established between Azerbaijan and the World Bank across various areas, ranging from hydrocarbons to renewable energy projects, and emphasized the significant potential for further expanding the partnership in the coming years.
They highlighted that Azerbaijan’s achievements in renewable energy within a short period demonstrate the effectiveness of the reforms implemented in the country’s energy sector. The sides also stressed the importance of Azerbaijan’s ongoing energy programs, particularly those aimed at strengthening transmission infrastructure, enhancing regional energy integration, and improving energy efficiency.
It was noted that one of the major challenges facing the global energy sector in recent years has been ensuring the resilience of transmission grids and integrating renewable energy capacity into power systems. In this regard, Azerbaijan’s measures to expand and modernize its transmission network were described as a strategic approach.
The meeting also reviewed ongoing efforts under the Azerbaijan Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Project (AZURE), which aims to strengthen the transmission network to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources into the national grid.
Regional energy interconnection initiatives launched by Azerbaijan were another key focus of the discussions. The sides were briefed on the progress of the feasibility study for the Green Energy Corridor project extending toward the Black Sea and Eastern Europe.
They also discussed developments related to the Azerbaijan-Central Asia and Azerbaijan-Georgia-Türkiye-Bulgaria interconnector projects. It was noted that the transmission line project connecting the Caspian region with Nakhchivan and Türkiye is currently under implementation.
The meeting further explored cooperation opportunities with the World Bank in implementing energy efficiency projects based on the ESCO (Energy Service Company) model. The sides noted that this mechanism, which enables the private sector to generate revenue through energy savings without relying on public funding, could also be effectively applied in Azerbaijan.
In addition, the discussions covered cooperation on offshore wind energy projects, the application of smart grid technologies, and battery energy storage systems (BESS). The World Bank expressed its readiness to support Azerbaijan in these areas.
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