POLITICS
US “Power Engineering” magazine publishes article on Gobustan Experimental Range and Training Center
Baku, September 16 (AZERTAC). The US-based Power Engineering magazine has published an article on the opening of the Gobustan Experimental Range and Training Center of the State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy.
The article says “Wind power units, solar batteries and bio-units for the electricity generation were commissioned first-ever in Azerbaijan on Wednesday. They were installed at the State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Resources` test ground located in the Gobustan district at the distance of 45 kilometers southwest of Baku.”
"Currently, three wind power generators with a capacity of 0.9 megawatts each, one solar generator with a capacity of 1.8 megawatts and one bio-energy unit with a capacity of one megawatt were commissioned at the test ground," the agency`s official said.
"In the future, the total capacity of the `alternative` power units will be increased to 5.5 megawatts," the official said, stressing, "Now, the capacity of the currently-operating units is sufficient to guarantee uninterrupted work of the ground`s equipment, including to charge batteries of cars equipped with electric engines."
In general, the State Agency considers the Gobustan test ground as a training centre for specialists and as a centre for the promotion of the alternative power generation in the country, the official said.
In the future, the agency plans to establish 21 centres of the kind, the official said, adding that the equipment for the project was imported from other countries. But in the near future, the country plans to develop its own production of the appropriate equipment, first of all solar batteries, the agency`s official said.
"If the project of the Gobustan alternative energy park is successful, which is out of questions about it, then, we can spread this experience to other districts and cities," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during the commissioning ceremony.
“He is confident that the use of the cheap alternative energy resources will guarantee great support for family budgets of the country`s population.
According to experts, development of alternative and renewable electricity generation in Azerbaijan will make it possible to save dozens, or even hundreds of millions U.S. dollars a year.
Now, the country use natural gas and furnace oil for the electricity generation. At the same time, prices of the "traditional energy resources" grow from year to year on the global markets.”