Masdar and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar) have broken ground on three major solar and wind projects in Azerbaijan with a combined capacity of 1 gigawatt.

The groundbreaking, which took place at the opening ceremony of Baku Energy Week, was overseen by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and UAE minister of industry and advanced technology and Masdar chairman Sultan Al Jaber, who is also the chairman of Masdar.

The projects comprise the 445-megawatt Bilasuvar Solar PV Project, the 315MW Neftchala Solar PV Project, and the 240MW Absheron-Garadagh Onshore Wind Project.

Investment agreements for the projects were reached in October 2023, followed by the signing of power purchase agreements, transmission connection agreements, and land lease agreements. Masdar and Socar also signed a shareholder agreement for the three projects.

Masdar chief executive officer Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi says Azerbaijan is a key strategic market for Masdar. With the groundbreaking for the wind and solar projects, the UAE company is taking a significant step forward in realizing its ambitious plan to develop up to 10GW of clean energy by 2030 in Azerbaijan.

The groundbreaking follows Masdar’s completion of the 230MW Garadagh solar plant in October 2023, Azerbaijan’s first foreign-invested independent solar power project and the largest such facility in the region.

Following the inauguration of the Garadagh solar plant, and with other key utility-scale projects in development, Masdar is supporting and accelerating the country’s clean energy vision ahead of COP29, and beyond.

Masdar is aiming for a renewable energy portfolio capacity of 100GW by 2030, supporting the target set in The UAE Consensus to triple global renewables capacity by the end of this decade, while aiming to be a leading producer of green hydrogen by the same year.