Romania leads drive to connect Azeri clean power to Europe

Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Hungary formed a joint venture Sept. 3 to kickstart a regional green energy corridor, which involves building a subsea cable to help bring renewable power from the Black Sea to eastern Europe.

The announcement of the Green Energy Corridor Power Company was made in Bucharest, where Romania hosted the 8th Ministerial Meeting of this regional initiative.

"This energy infrastructure project is of major importance for Romania, for the region and for the European Union. It will interconnect the energy markets in the Black Sea area, ensuring the diversity of supply sources," said Sebastian Burduja, Romania's energy minister.

The feasibility study of the subsea interconnector project will be presented at the 29th UN Climate Change Conference, which will meet Nov. 11-23 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is keen to emerge as a supplier of gas and renewables to Europe, as it seeks to diversify away from Russian supplies.

Part of the country’s strategy includes developing major green energy projects focusing on wind and solar in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur.

Azerbaijan aims to boost the share of renewables in its power mix to 30% by 2030. But it does not currently have a net-zero target. In October 2023, the country revised its Nationally Determined Contributions, committing to a 40% reduction in emissions by 2050, compared with 1990 levels.

"The project will contribute to the decarbonization of the energy sector, considering the fact that it will mainly transport energy from renewable sources. There are many complementarities between our countries, which leads us to this joint effort to build a far-reaching project that we all need," Burduja said.

The joint venture was signed by Romania's CNTEE Transelectrica, Hungary's MVM Group, Georgian State Electrosystem and AzerEnerji.

The Calendar 2025 baseload contract for Hungary settled at Eur104.99/MWh on the EEX exchange Sept. 2. The comparable contract for Romania settled at Eur106.24/MWh.