11:39 - 23.01.2026

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January 23, Fineko/abc.az. Currently, Azerbaijan uses around 15 bcm of natural gas a year, and about a third of it is spent on electricity generation.

ABC.AZ informs that Deputy Minister of Energy Elnur Soltanov made the above-said statement at a roundtable at ADA University on the occasion of the International Clean Energy Day.

He noted that Azerbaijan needs to take a range of steps in the field of "clean energy": "The main issue here, of course, is related to technologies and their cost."

The deputy minister added that there are no suitable technologies in some spheres and this should be considered as an exogenous factor.

"We are not among the countries that create technologies, and this needs to be accepted. This should not be considered a serious problem, but it will be difficult to fully resolve the issues under consideration in a short time only on our own, even within the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). It is necessary to define long-term strategic goals in this direction," Soltanov said.

The deputy minister also stressed that the issue of "clean energy" requires financial resources: "I believe that our region and the ECO can give a serious impetus to these processes. The third important issue is cooperation in every sense. For example, Azerbaijan has a unique geographical location. We do not have access to the ocean, and this creates certain restrictions. However, the situation in the field of electricity production is somewhat different," he said.

Soltanov added that currently close to 15 bcm of gas are consumed annually in Azerbaijan, and about a third is spent on electricity generation.

"In other words, we allocate approx. 5 bcm of gas exclusively for electricity generation, which exceeds the overall annual gas consumption of some European countries," he said.

According to Soltanov, development of green energy is not very difficult due to the availability of technologies, but the main problem lies in energy storage systems: "They are very expensive, and without batteries, complete transition to solar and wind energy is impossible. Another alternative is to strengthen energy ties with neighboring countries. For example, this model is already being implemented in the EU, which greatly facilitates the transition to green energy."