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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has officially inaugurated the 220/110/10 kV Yeni Sangachal substation, marking a major milestone in integrating renewable energy generation with the country’s national grid and strategic oil and gas assets.
The project represents a shift in national energy strategy, moving from isolated decarbonization efforts toward a unified grid framework designed to increase system efficiency, boost natural gas export capacity, and secure long-term energy sustainability.
Developed under a joint agreement between Azerenergy OJSC and bp, the project connects the 240 MW Shafag solar power plant under construction in the Jabrayil district to the Sangachal terminal via Azerbaijan’s national power grid.
Replacing On-Site Gas Generation: Once fully commissioned, the terminal’s existing gas-fired power plant will be decommissioned. Solar electricity generated in Jabrayil will meet the terminal’s annual electricity demand of approximately 500 million kWh.
Resource Preservation: Decommissioning on-site gas turbines will save between 120 and 150 million cubic meters of natural gas per year, making it available for export to international markets while cutting annual carbon dioxide emissions by 260,000 to 330,000 tonnes.
Powering Strategic Assets: The new substation will deliver power to bp’s 80 MW Sangachal Terminal and the 85 MW Shah Deniz Compressor Station. Together, the annual power demand of these facilities exceeds 1 billion kWh, which will now be fully backed by the unified grid.
The project highlights the evolving role of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories as regional green energy hubs. A core element of the initiative is a “virtual energy transfer” mechanism, allowing solar power generated at the 240 MW Shafag plant in Jabrayil to be transmitted across the national grid directly to the Sangachal terminal.
Constructed by a consortium comprising bp (40.01%), SOCAR Green (39.99%), the Azerbaijan Business Development Fund (10%), and Hungary’s MVM company (10%), the Shafag solar plant reached key construction milestones with initial module installations and tracker setup. Upon scheduled completion, the facility will generate approximately 500 million kWh of clean power annually.
Azerbaijan is accelerating its clean energy expansion, targeting 2 GW of combined solar and wind capacity by 2027 and expanding to 8 GW by 2032, alongside significant hydropower developments in Karabakh and East Zangezur. Installed renewable capacity currently stands at 1.83 GW, accounting for nearly 19% of the national power system.
Major international investors continue to expand their presence in the country:
Masdar (UAE): Operating the 230 MW Garadagh solar plant, Masdar is advancing three additional major projects with SOCAR Green: the Bilasuvar (445 MW) and Neftchala (315 MW) solar farms, and the Absheron-Garadagh (240 MW) wind project.
ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia): Recently commissioned the 240 MW Khizi-Absheron wind farm, the largest in the country.
Green Energy Corridors: Feasibility studies have progressed for international export routes, including the Caspian-Black Sea-Europe green energy corridor.
The integration of utility-scale solar generation into heavy oil and gas processing infrastructure, virtual energy transfer frameworks, and cross-border green energy corridors will be central topics of discussion at the upcoming Go Net Zero Central Asia & Caspian Summit.
Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Energy is actively backing domestic solar installations, according to Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov, as reported by 24.kg.
Under current policy guidelines, residential households can deploy rooftop solar panels with generating capacities up to 15 kW. Installations operating under this limit are fully exempt from licensing requirements when feed-in surplus power is transferred back into the national grid.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has officially commenced construction on a landmark 1-gigawatt (GW) wind farm in Kazakhstan's southern Zhambyl region, marking the company’s inaugural renewable energy asset in the country.
The $1.4 billion development ranks as one of the largest integrated wind generation and battery storage installations in Central Asia. To mitigate the intermittency of wind generation and secure immediate grid stabilization, the installation will couple its 1 GW wind capacity with a high-capacity 600-megawatt-hour (MWh) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
The global energy transition is no longer a story told in megawatts and policy pledges alone. It is increasingly written in cables, corridors, and cross-border agreements, in the physical and institutional architecture being laid down today that will determine how, where, and at what cost clean electricity flows across continents for the next half-century.
Article by Elchin Ismayilov