Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Scientists at the Institute of Physics of Azerbaijan’s National Academy of Sciences have halved the cost of production of solar elements, which are used to convert solar energy into electric current, Deputy Director of the Institute Javad Abdinov said.

Abdinov said, new design of solar elements have been created on the basis of different semiconductors and their structure was simplified in the institute. As a result, the production cost of the solar elements has been reduced by half.

The deputy head said that the new solar cells were produced using modern foreign equipment.

In addition, the efficiency of the new solar elements was increased from 14-15 to 18-19 percent. The new elements, developed by the Institute, allow them to increase the efficiency up to 30 percent, Abdinov added.

He said, the solution can be used in techno parks of Azerbaijan.

The country is rich not only with natural, but also alternative resources, especially solar, wind, and thermal energies.

The total capacity of alternative and renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan exceeds 12,000 megawatts. Most of the country's capacities in this area fall on solar energy, and estimated at 5,000 megawatts.

Earlier, Azerbaijan revealed a plan to establish a new electricity generating capacity in renewable energy as of 2015.

The State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources plans to launch a project with a total capacity of 300 megawatts. The project will focus on the generation of solar, wind, geothermal waters, small rivers and biomass energy.

Over 100 million manats ($127 million) has been invested from the public fund in the development of alternative and renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan.

The government plans to build up to 100 objects for alternative energy for 5 years in Azerbaijan, according to preliminary research.

The share of solar energy in the total volume of alternative energy of Azerbaijan is estimated to reach 40 percent by 2020. The share of alternative energy sources is planned to increase to 20 percent of the total volume of energy consumption in Azerbaijan by 2020, which requires 7 billion manats ($8.9 billion) of investment.