Azerbaijan Unveils 6 GW Renewable Energy Target by 2030

Azerbaijan has set an ambitious target to develop 6 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, focusing on solar PV, wind, and hydropower.

President Ilham Aliyev made the announcement at the COP29 summit in Baku, highlighting the country’s vast renewable energy potential, with an estimated 135 GW of onshore capacity. To date, Azerbaijan has secured contracts and memoranda for 10 GW of renewable energy projects.

A significant partnership in this effort is with Masdar, the UAE's state-owned renewable energy developer, to develop up to 10 GW of capacity in two phases. The first phase includes 4GW of solar and wind projects, while the second phase could add up to 6 GW. Masdar’s solar projects in Azerbaijan are being developed in collaboration with SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state oil company.

Last year, Masdar launched the largest utility-scale solar plant in the region and has begun construction on two more projects totaling 760 MW in 2024.

In addition to increasing its domestic renewable energy capacity, Azerbaijan plans to boost energy exports through the development of the Black Sea-Caspian energy cable, which will transmit up to 4GW of renewable electricity to Europe. Feasibility studies for this project are already underway.

At COP29, BP signed an agreement with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Energy to build a 240 MW solar PV plant, the Shafag Solar Power Plant, with an estimated investment of USD 200 million, marking another step in Azerbaijan’s renewable energy strategy.