(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 1. The US stands ready
to partner with Azerbaijan in renewable energy sphere, Kimberly D.
Harrington, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Energy
Resources of the US State Department, said in an exclusive interview with Trend , as she has
visited Baku to take part in the 10th meeting of the Southern Gas
Corridor Advisory Council.
DAS Harrington noted that the US really sees Azerbaijan as
having tremendous potential with solar and with wind.
"As I can tell, I was standing out of the Caspian yesterday, and
I could feel the wind. It's very, very obvious. Deploying
renewables has so many benefits, not just to our decarbonization
goals, but it also frees up molecules that might be used in
domestic market, to export overseas. There's a lot of benefits, and
renewables and supporting renewables is foundational to what we
do.
I've been in Baku for a number of days now, so I've had the
chance to discuss some of these goals with officials. I was just in
a meeting with Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov. We
talked a little bit about the green energy corridor concept. We
absolutely are interested in learning more and looking to see how
we might be able to support these ambitious plans. And I would say,
Azerbaijan has pulled off some pretty impressive major
infrastructure projects before - Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Southern Gas
Corridor. It's not going to be easy to pull off another major green
energy corridor. I have to say, these connectors are not going to
be easy, but if anyone can prove that the doubters are wrong, it's
Azerbaijan, because Azerbaijan has done it in the past," she
added.
Harrington noted that expansion of cooperation in renewables is
absolutely an area the US is looking forward to expanding with
Azerbaijan.
"Domestically in the United States, we've taken a lot of really
important measures under the Biden administration to advance the
deployment of clean energy, to advance the deployment of
renewables. These include underpinning legislation, like the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and
Science Act. These are really turbocharging clean energy research
and development in the United States. Minister Shabazov recently
had the chance to visit the National Renewable Energy Labs in
Colorado, and he discussed ways to increase our cooperation on
renewables with our partners from the Department of Energy there.
So, as Azerbaijan deploys more renewables, we stand ready to
partner, to ensure that these deliverables can immediately deliver
electricity to the citizens of Azerbaijan and beyond.
I'd say one area that comes to mind more specifically, though,
where we might be able to partner, and which makes a lot of sense
given that the UAE just hosted COP and Azerbaijan is about to host
COP, is leveraging the partner that the United States has with the
United Arab Emirates. It's called the Partnership for Accelerating
Clean Energy. It was established in 2022, and it aims at catalyzing
$100 billion in green energy investment and support for clean
energy projects around the globe by 2035," she said.
DAS Harrington believes that given Masdar's partnerships and
really committed demonstration to working here in Azerbaijan in the
renewables market, the three-way collaboration between the United
States, Azerbaijan, and the UAE in this sphere holds a lot of
possibilities.
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