Azerbaijan and Germany: Working together for renewable energies and energy efficiency

From 28 August to 1 September 2017, a delegation from Azerbaijan visited Berlin as part of a study tour on renewable energies and energy efficiency. 

From 28 August to 1 September 2017, a delegation from Azerbaijan visited Berlin as part of a study tour on renewable energies and energy efficiency, organized in cooperation with the Academy for International Cooperation (AIZ). The delegates also met representatives of the German Environment Ministry (BMUB) to discuss new opportunities for cooperation. Among the participants were representatives of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Energy, the Academy of Sciences and the state power enterprise Azerenerji.

Germany and Azerbaijan have been cooperating on environmental issues for many years. In addition to the usual topics of environmental and nature conservation and climate protection, their cooperation focuses on increasing energy efficiency and the expansion of renewable energies. The study tour was organised in the context of the project 'Capacity Development for Climate Policy in the Western Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia – Phase II', part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), and aimed to deepen and expand relations between the two countries in this area.

During the one-week stay in Berlin, the delegates visited various institutions, companies and think-tanks which work on key aspects of energy efficiency, renewables and the energy transition in Germany. The Azerbaijani delegates were thus able to familiarise themselves with examples of German best practice and methods of potential relevance to the development of a national climate strategy in Azerbaijan.

The programme included a visit to Agora Energiewende, a Berlin-based think-tank where researchers are working on energy transition strategies. The delegates also spent an afternoon in the energy self-sufficient village Feldheim; here, they visited a wind farm and biogas plant. At GridLab, the European Training and Research Centre for Power Systems Security, delegates obtained further key information on the integration of renewable energies into transmission networks and on systems security for electricity grids.

The study tour ended with a transfer workshop where the delegates met representatives of the BMUB and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and discussed possible cooperation and fields of action between Germany and Azerbaijan. The study tour laid the foundations for further cooperation in the energy and climate policy dialogue between the two countries.