Afgan Isaev: SOCAR plans to localize part of equipment production for wind farms

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) plans to localize part of the production of equipment for wind farms in the future.

This was stated by SOCAR Vice President Afgan Isaev in an interview with Euronews.

He emphasized that by 2035, SOCAR will become a national energy company.

"And, as you correctly noted, not a hydrocarbon company, but a company with a balanced portfolio. One of the main problems we face in developing renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan is the limited ability of the power grid to accept energy from variable sources. And that is why we need additional balancing capacities - for example, combined cycle power plants, battery energy storage solutions, or a combination of these," said the vice president.

According to him, the second challenge is the lack of access to the open sea.

"Some types of equipment needed for wind farms, such as 92-94 meter long blades, are extremely difficult to deliver here. Of course, we hope that in the future we will be able to localize certain types of production," emphasized A. Isaev.

The SOCAR Vice President noted that part of the infrastructure and equipment dates back to Soviet times.

"Therefore, the third challenge is the decarbonization of the basic activities themselves. We need huge investments in modernizing our production processes, as well as major investments in digitalization," he added.