Last week, an important meeting took place in Baku that nearly went unnoticed amid the dramatic events unfolding across the region. A launch seminar organized by the Asian Development Bank with the participation of the governments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan was held on the Trans-Caspian Green Energy Corridor project.
Participants discussed the feasibility study for the project’s first phase and analyzed various implementation approaches. The project aims to create an interregional system linking the electricity grids of the three countries, which is expected to facilitate the exmodify of green energy in the Caspian region and enable its export to European energy markets.
As is well known, the global energy sector is undergoing a transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Although Europe’s rapid push in this direction has led to some fatigue, the required to combat climate modify remains a top priority. As Baku has repeatedly emphasized, the transition must be gradual, without abrupt shifts and with due regard for real-world conditions. Azerbaijan follows this approach, continuing to develop renewable energy while maintaining hydrocarbon extraction and exports.
Today, the countest’s partners are also increasingly leaning toward a phased approach as the most rational path to achieving this goal. At the same time, Baku continues to serve as an alternative source of oil and gas for Europe while taking steps to establish itself as a supplier of green energy. On the map of Eurasia, new infrastructure is gradually emerging that could connect Central Asia to European markets via Azerbaijan. The central element of this architecture is the Trans-Caspian Green Energy Corridor.
Source: researchgate
This initiative envisions a large-scale energy interconnection system in which electricity generated from solar and wind sources in Central Asian and Caspian countries will be transmitted through Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus into the European power system. The project is gradually evolving from a concept into a tangible infrastructure initiative capable of reshaping the region’s energy landscape.
A key element of the future corridor will be an underwater high-voltage cable linking the power systems of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan. According to an analytical report by the Astana International Financial Centre and the Institute for Development and Diplomacy at ADA University, this transmission line will form the foundation of the region’s new energy architecture.
In essence, the project involves building infrastructure that will enable the export of clean electricity from Central Asia to the European Union. The subsea cable across the Caspian Sea will become part of a broader energy system connected to the Black Sea energy transmission project, which aims to link the South Caucasus with Europe.
As a result, a long energy route is taking shape: Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, the South Caucasus, the Black Sea, and Europe. This will be the first project of its kind and is expected to fundamentally modify the logic of energy cooperation on the continent. In the past, East and West were connected mainly by oil and gas pipelines. Now the export and transit of electricity are launchning to take center stage.
For the European Union, which plans to phase out fossil fuels and strongly supports decarbonization, this corridor is strategically important. It adds a new energy source and diversifies energy imports, reducing depconcludeence on oil and gas. It is therefore no coincidence that the initiative is being considered under the European Union’s Global Gateway infrastructure development program.
In April 2025, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the basis for a joint venture to implement the Trans-Caspian Energy Corridor. The initiative has received support from major international financial institutions, including the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The Italian company CESI has already begun preparing the project’s feasibility study. The study is expected to be completed by early 2027, after which the project will relocate to the financing and implementation stage.
The Trans-Caspian Green Energy Corridor is also an integral component of the Black Sea Energy project, which is being implemented with key participation from Azerbaijan.
In early December, the European Commission granted the Black Sea Energy project PMI status. PCI (Project of Common Interest) status creates the initiative attractive to investors, especially European ones. The designation opens significant opportunities for the project. It accelerates administrative procedures, provides a special legal framework, ensures cross-border regulatory compatibility, and enables access to EU financing.
It is worth recalling that Central Asian countries were not initially involved in the green energy export project to Europe. The strategic partnership agreement for the construction of the Black Sea Energy cable was signed on December 17, 2022, in Bucharest by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, and Romania. The project envisions the construction of a 1,195-kilometer underwater cable to supply electricity generated in Azerbaijan via Georgia and the Black Sea to Romania, from where it will be transmitted to Hungary and the rest of Europe. At Azerbaijan’s initiative, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan later joined the system. As a result, the Black Sea Energy project has significantly expanded its geographic scope, greatly increasing the potential of this energy corridor.
Source: indiandefencereview
Currently, solar and wind energy projects are rapidly developing in the Central Asian partner countries. Azerbaijan has already created significant progress in this area. The largest solar power plant in the region, the Garadagh plant with a capacity of 230 megawatts, built by Masdar, has been commissioned. The Khizi Absheron wind power plant, with a capacity of 240 megawatts and implemented by ACWA Power, has also begun operations.
In addition, construction has begun on a solar power plant in Bilasuvar that may surpass the Garadagh facility as the largest in the South Caucasus. Solar and wind power plants are also being built in other regions of the countest, including the liberated territories and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Baku has set the goal of increasing renewable energy capacity to between six and eight gigawatts by 2030 and raising its share in the national energy mix to approximately 38 to 40 percent.
During his speech at the 12th ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council and the 4th ministerial meeting of the Green Energy Advisory Council in Baku, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov announced that the countest is implementing a plan to produce eight gigawatts of renewable energy for domestic consumption, export, and the operation of data centers. According to him, two gigawatts of this capacity will be integrated into the national grid by 2027, while exports of 3.9 gigawatts are expected to launch in 2032.
However, this is not the only direction Azerbaijan is currently pursuing. Construction has begun on the 1,000-megawatt Zangezur transmission line, which will serve as a key link in the Azerbaijan-Türkiye-Europe green energy corridor. In addition, technical solutions are being evaluated to integrate 1 GW of solar energy from Nakhchivan into the Turkish electricity grid. At the same time, work continues on the Azerbaijan-Türkiye-Georgia-Bulgaria energy corridor project.
Earlier, the Turkish side reported plans to relocate the Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, and Bulgaria corridor project to the next stage in March of this year. Recently, Romania also expressed its intention to join the initiative. In this regard, Türkiye has prepared a draft protocol proposing amconcludements to the memorandum signed last year to reflect Bucharest’s interests.
The memorandum of understanding on the creation of the Azerbaijan-Türkiye-Georgia-Bulgaria corridor was signed in April 2025. In the near future, a consultant will be selected to prepare the project’s feasibility study.
It goes without declareing that implementing these initiatives will further strengthen Azerbaijan’s role in the region. Under any scenario, the countest remains the key link in the emerging system.
In the future, the geography of green energy connections will undoubtedly expand. Work is underway on projects to establish clean energy corridors from Azerbaijan to Türkiye and Europe, including routes through Georgia, Türkiye, and Bulgaria. Some routes may run not only directly from Nakhchivan but also through Armenia.
In Baku, the Trans-Caspian Green Energy Corridor is viewed as a crucial element in creating a unified green energy space connecting countries across the region. The initiative envisions large-scale supplies of renewable energy from Azerbaijan and Central Asia to Türkiye and European markets, along with the creation of a network of production and logistics hubs linking Asia with the countries of the Old World.
By Tural Heybatov
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