Wind

Azerbaijan taps China to help it build huge offshore wind farm

Azerbaijan’s state oil giant SOCAR and PowerChina among parties to agreement to develop 2GW offshore wind farm

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries after their talks in Beijing on April 23.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries after their talks in Beijing on April 23.Photo: Xinhua
Journalist

During a state visit of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to Beijing, the country has signed an agreement that would see two Chinese power giants develop a massive offshore wind farm in the Caspian Sea.

Aliyev arrived in Beijing on Tuesday as he seeks to foster closer ties with China and its President Xi Jinping in several areas, including the development of renewable energy.

Azerbaijan signed six agreements in total on cooperation in renewables with Chinese counterparties.

Most significantly, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Energy and the green unit of its State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) signed a memorandum of understanding with subsidiaries of Chinese state-owned power giants China Datang Corporation and PowerChina on developing a 2GW offshore wind project.

Azerbaijan’s energy ministry said that the MOU will see the parties cooperate on the “assessment of investment opportunities and the establishment of appropriate technical and legal support mechanisms” for the project in the Caspian Sea.

A steering committee and working group will be established to develop the project, as well as experts in commercial, legal and technical fields, it said. The ministry will help obtain permits and allocate marine territories.

A 2022 study by the World Bank Group said Azerbaijan could have 7GW of Caspian Sea offshore wind in place by 2040 if underpinned by the “right long-term vision”.
Azerbaijan has previously entered agreements with two Middle East utility giants – the UAE’s Masdar and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power – over a potential 3.5GW of offshore wind projects.
The petrostate, which hosted the COP29 climate summit last year, is more broadly aiming for renewables to meet 30% of its power demands by 2030. There is a proposal to build a 1,200km interconnector that could pump green power from future Azerbaijan wind farms to Eastern Europe to help cut dependence on Russian gas.

Aside from the offshore wind pact, Azerbaijan signed agreements with Chinese parties during Aliyev’s Beijing visit to develop 260MW of solar power plants, a 100MW floating solar power plant and a 30MW battery energy storage system.

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Published 24 April 2025, 10:07Updated 24 April 2025, 10:07
ChinaAzerbaijanAsiaAsia-PacificCentral Asia