ON THE WINGS OF THE WIND

Expanding the use of renewable energy sources is becoming the main direction of the development of civilization in the 21st century. Azerbaijan, too, pays special attention to the development of alternative energy sources, and it has built 17 power plants over the past decade with a total capacity of about 2,300 MW. As a result, the installed generating capacity of the country's power grid has reached nearly 7,200 MW and, based on this indicator, Azerbaijan is one of the leaders among the countries of the Caspian region. The backbone of the country's power grid is made up of 13 large thermal and 8 hydropower plants.

While increasing the generating capacity of the conventional power sector, the country does not forget about its alternative segment, and this trend is supported at the government level. "The development of alternative energies and maximum use of renewable energy sources is a step into the modern age, towards the innovative model of development and, of course, environmentally sound technologies. This is our contribution to the future," said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. This message of the head of state reflects the global trend that has been dominant in recent years - the gradual substitution of renewable energy sources for hydrocarbons as a fuel for power plants.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, as much as 103 GW of generating capacities fuelled by renewable energy sources was put into operation in the last year alone, which is a world record to date. Investments in this sector have grown by 17 per cent, while investment in wind power alone has reached a historic high of 99.5bn dollars. The United States is a clear leader in this area, as the country produces a quarter of the world's energy generated by the renewables. The top five also include Germany, Spain, China and Brazil.

As yet, Azerbaijan cannot boast of tangible electricity production based on renewable energy sources, though it has great potential in this field. In recent years, the focus of attention of the country's largest electrical power producer, Azerenerji, was on increasing the capacity of thermal power plants. This is a fully justified decision, as modern combined heat and power stations offer advantages in terms of efficiency relative to most alternative energies. Furthermore, the construction of large hydropower plants (HPPs) involves much higher capital costs per one megawatt of power produced than is the case with thermal power plants.

In fact, this is why domestic thermal power plants to this day provide most of the electricity generated in the country. According to 2014 statistics, of more than 23bn kWh of electricity produced in Azerbaijan, renewable energy sources of all kinds accounted for as little as 1.5bn kWh. Importantly, more than 80 per cent of the entire volume of electricity generated by the renewables was provided by hydropower plants of the country.

Along with the development of large HPPs, Azerbaijan is implementing a programme of construction of small hydropower facilities. Specialists of Azerenerji JSC rely primarily on developing the potential of small mountain rivers of the Greater Caucasus. Exploratory surveys have been completed at four sites - the Shirvan irrigation canal and the rivers of Nuqadi-Qaracay, Qusarcay and Katexcay. Small turbo-generators with a capacity between 0.5 MW and 5 MW on average will be installed there, as they do not need the construction of dams and complex water-development projects. It is planned to build, in the foreseeable future, as many as 34 effective small HPPs whose total capacity is projected at 239.9 MW and annual production capacity is going to exceed 1.2bn kWh. Today, the construction of the first 15 small HPPs with a combined capacity of 77.2 MW is already under way on several mountain rivers of the country. The hydropower potential of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic is also being actively developed - more than 60 per cent of the entire electricity generated here will soon be produced by small and medium-sized hydropower plants.

It is obvious that HPPs will retain their status as the main alternative to thermal power plants in the future. However, construction of hydropower plants is quite capital-intensive, and it is not surprising that the lion's share of all investments involved in the renewable energy has been channelled here. A total of about 800m manats has been invested in the creation of generating capacities in all segments of alternative energy since 2000 to the present day.

In addition to using the energy of rivers and water reservoirs, there are considerable opportunities in Azerbaijan to generate power from sunlight, wind and biogas, since the potential of renewable energy sources is one of the highest in the region. However, electricity generation from renewable sources requires considerable investment: in 2014, cumulative investment in the development of alternative energies in Azerbaijan amounted to 63.6m manats. Of these, 34.9m was directed to the development of solar plants and 28.7m to the use of wind power.

The State Strategy for the Development of Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources up to 2020, developed by the State Agency on Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources (ABEMDA), provides for a significant change in the proportion of different sources of renewable energy. It is expected that the share of solar power in the total production of alternative energy will reach 40 per cent, that of the wind - 28 per cent, bioenergy (biogas) - 8 per cent; the remainder will be produced by small hydropower facilities. Of course, this does not account for the share of production at large HPPs, as this area traditionally belongs to the segment of conventional power generating facilities.

Thus, the use of solar energy is given a priority in the development of renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan. About two years ago, ABEMDA experts developed a three-phase project which, if implemented, would provide for the construction in the country of solar power plants with an aggregate capacity of more than 2,000 MW by the end of 2020. It was planned that as much as 790 MW of installed solar power generation capacity could be commissioned in 2014-2016, 685 MW in 2017-2018 and 730 MW in 2019-2020. However, due to the unfavourable situation on the global oil market and the corresponding reduction in state budget revenues, the implementation of these capital-intensive plans will most likely be postponed until later. In the meantime, the Suraxani solar power plant commissioned a year ago is currently the only solar power plant operating in Azerbaijan. Solar power panels are also placed at the hybrid power-generating plant in Qobustan, the refugee camp in Bilasuvar, the sports centre in Masalli and on the roofs of a number of schools and health clinics in Baku. In the near future, new solar power plants will be opened in the cities of Sumqayit and Samux, as well as on the Pirallahi peninsula and in the settlement of Sanqacal.

Wind power generation is believed by ABEMDA experts to be the second most promising area of renewable energy. There are very good opportunities for the development of wind power on the Abseron Peninsula and in other coastal areas of the country, where the force of the wind ranges between 3 m/s and 27 m/s throughout the year. This is why almost all of the promising projects in the field of wind power are located on the Caspian Sea coast. Let us recall, for instance, the Qobustan District where the average wind speed is 8.5 m/s, which makes the construction of several wind farms there very cost-effective. The Qobustan hybrid power-generating plant with a capacity of 5.5 MW, which was commissioned in 2012, is a good example in this respect. Three wind turbines of 2.7 MW each are a key component of this project. During the second phase of project implementation, one more wind turbine of 2.5 MW will be built on the Qobustan site.

A major project in the field of wind power was launched in 2011 by Caspian Technology which purchased two wind turbine generators of 850 kW each in Germany and Denmark. These were installed at the Surabad site in the Xizi District's Yasma settlement; another wind turbine with a capacity of 550 kW, which is intended for the training of ABEMDA experts, was erected here, too.

The country's largest wind power generation project has been implemented in the Xizi District. Here, the Yeni Yasma wind farm with 20 wind turbines having a combined capacity of 50 MW was implemented at the initiative of ABEMDA. The commissioning of the first 2.5 MW wind turbine was timed to coincide with the Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which is on 28 May. "All of the turbines of the Yeni Yasma wind farm have passed tests following the start-up and commissioning, and the wind turbine which was put into operation first has already started to transmit electricity to the power grid of the country. The remaining 19 wind turbines of 2.5 MW each will be put into operation in the near future, with an interval of three days," a press release of the State Agency said.

But apparently the most ambitious undertaking in the area of wind power will be implemented on the initiative of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR). Several years ago, the company initiated a project to build a wind farm with a capacity of 2 MW on the island of Cilov. However, SOCAR's long-term plans regarding the use of wind power proved to be much more significant. In particular, this refers to the commencement of construction, tentatively scheduled for 2017-2018, of the region's largest wind power complex, which includes the territory known as the Oil Rocks [Neft Daslari] as well as the islands of Pirallahi and Cilov. The estimated combined capacity of windmill generators, which are planned to be placed on offshore piers, will be 200 MW. The cost of the project is expected to be to the tune of 450m manats, and these costs can be repaid over a period of 10 years by the revenue earned. The project is very promising, and investors from the United Arab Emirates, Germany and China have already demonstrated their interest.