Azerbaijan commissions 1.1 MW solar PV power plant in Pirallahi island
/25th July 2017, by pv magazine/
The project is the first phase of the 2.8 MW Pirallahi PV power plant and part of the Government’s 2014-2020 energy strategy which aims to deploy over 600 MW of solar by 2020.
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the commissioning ceremony of a 1.1 MW PV plant in the Pirallahi Island, near Baku, eastern Azerbaijan. The plant is the first section of the 2.8 MW Pirallahi Solar Power Plant, which is part of the 2014-2020 government strategy for the development of solar and renewables.
According to a document published by the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC) in July 2016, the strategy, which still lacks a general legal framework, includes, among others, the construction of the Pirahalli project along with the 2.8 MW Surakhany Solar Power Plant, which will also be located near Baku, in the Surakhany district, the 2.8 MW Sumghait Solar Power Plant, which will be located in Sumqayit, 30 Km north of Baku, and the 20 MW Nakhchivan Solar Power Plant, which was commissioned in December 2015 near Khal-khal village in Babek district.
On the top of this, another 1.8 MW of solar will come from a pilot project being developed at the Gobustan Experimental Polygon and Training Center.
The country also has an operational solar module maker, Azguntex LLC, which owns a 75 MW solar panel manufacturing facility in Sumqayit. The company, which was founded by Azerbaijan’s State Agency on Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources, started manufacturing activities in April 2012. Modules produced at the factory are distributed in the country and mainly used for residential PV projects.
The country’s government is targeting to reach a share of renewables of around 20% in its energy mix by 2020, and to increase it to 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2050. If achieved, the 2020 target will bring online approximately 600 MW of solar power. According to CAREC, Azerbaijan has the potential to deploy around 8 GW of solar.
What are the next solar PV power plants in Azerbaijan? What is market dynamics and forecast for market development to 2026? Answers to all these questions you will find out in Renewable Market Watch’s latest Q2 2017 published report:
CIS Countries Photovoltaic (Solar PV) Market: Outlook 2017 ÷ 2026