BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 4. The work to speed the implementation of the ACWA Power company's initiative to develop a 240 MW Khizi-Absheron wind power facility in Azerbaijan has been announced, a source familiary with the matter exclusively told Trend.
Last week, ACWA Power and the Azerbaijani government decided to expedite this project, which will cost 417 million manat ($245.29 million).
"Transmission lines in the contract area have already been built, and the first turbines will be imported in April 2024. More workers will be involved in the work than first intended, and the implementation of several technical parts of the project will be expedited," the source noted.
According to the source, such acceleration may enable the WPP to
begin operations as early as 2025.
Notably, last week, an ACWA Power subsidiary got an Investment
Promotion Document (IPD) from the Small and Medium Business
Development Agency (KOBIA), the first in the country for renewable
energy sources.
With an IPD, entrepreneurs are excluded from paying land tax,
receive a 50 percent reduction on personal income tax and
corporation tax payments, and are totally exempt from paying VAT
and customs taxes on the import of technology, technological
equipment, and installations for seven years.
Meanwhile, the 240 MW Khizi-Absheron WPP's groundbreaking ceremony
took place on January 13, 2022.
The project calls for the installation of 40 turbines with a
capacity of six MW each. Of them, 17 wind turbines will be
installed in Pirakushkul village, Absheron district, and 23
turbines in Sitalchay village, Khizi district.
The project is carried out using the build-own-operate paradigm.
The power station will create around one billion kWh of electricity
each year, saving up to 220 million cubic meters of gas for
Azerbaijan.
ACWA Power and Masdar signed a memorandum of understanding with the
State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) in the autumn of 2023 to
create 500 MW of renewable energy projects in the Nakhchivan
Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.
ACWA Power entered the Azerbaijan market in 2019.
In addition to the Khizi-Absheron WPP, ACWA Power has a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy to investigate the feasibility of establishing a one GW onshore wind power plant, a 1.5 GW offshore wind power plant, and the development of hydrogen projects in the nation.
