Nagorno Garabagh

"Today I have come to the liberated lands again. Several events are being held on these lands today and their goal is to restore the liberated lands as soon as possible so that people could return and bring back life to these lands," said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he visited Fuzuli, Zangilan, Lachin and Jabrayil districts with first lady Mehriban Aliyeva and their daughter Leyla Aliyevaon February 14, APA reports.

"A special place among the restoration work is occupied by electricity supply, of course. To this end, we began to deal with this work immediately after the war, from the very first days. First of all, concrete steps were taken to supply electricity to the city of Shusha, and the first stage of this process has already been completed. “AzerIshig” has already extended power lines to the city. To provide the city of Shusha with uninterrupted electricity and develop the city in the future, the “AzerEnerji” Joint Stock Company is also building high-voltage power lines to Shusha and building a power plant in the city.

We are in the southern part of Lachin district today, on the territory of Gulabird village. A hydroelectric power plant is opening in the village of Gulabird today. Less than two months after the liberation of Lachin district from occupation, a month and a half later, a hydroelectric power station is being commissioned here. The generating capacity of this hydroelectric power plant is 8 megawatts. Among small hydroelectric power plants, an 8-megawatt plant can be considered a medium-sized plant. The key thing is that the launch of this station will create generating capacities here and thus we will effectively use our nature, the Hakari River.

In the Kalbajar-Lachin zone, the natural conditions for hydroelectric power plants are very favorable. There used to be many stations here before. The contemptible enemy also used these stations during the occupation. But within 20 days after their capitulation, by 1 December, Armenia destroyed all these hydroelectric power plants, removed the equipment from here and demolished the buildings of the stations. The enemy has also destroyed the Gulabird hydroelectric power station. Otherwise, this station would have been serving us already from 1 December. But the instructions I gave were fulfilled in a short time and we are celebrating the opening of the Gulabird hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 8 megawatts today. This is the first power plant being commissioned on the liberated lands. It has great significance and great symbolic meaning. We are returning to these lands. We will restore all the hydroelectric power stations in Kalbajar and Lachin districts the Armenians illegally exploited for many years and destroyed them. On the territory of Lachin district alone, the enemy destroyed five hydroelectric power plants. All of them will be restored. A further 12 hydroelectric power plants will be reconstructed on the territory of Kalbajar district. Thus, the generating capacity of the stations that have been destroyed and will be rebuilt in Kalbajar and Lachin districts alone will amount to 120 megawatts. This is a very large generating capacity. Thanks to that, we will restore these territories and provide them with uninterrupted energy. If you look at the other projects we have outlined, you can see that renewable energy has huge potential in this region. The Khudafarin and Giz Galasi hydroelectric power stations will have the biggest capacity among them. We have come to an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran on the construction of these stations. These hydroelectric power plants will be built in the near future, and the Azerbaijani side will thus receive a generating capacity of 120 megawatts from these stations. In other words, in a few years we will receive 120 megawatts from the Khudafarin and Giz Galasi stations and another 120 megawatts from hydroelectric power plants in Kalbajar and Lachin districts. This means 240 megawatts of generating capacity, and the advantage here is that these are hydroelectric power plants, so the cost of energy is very low. In parallel with this, I have already given instructions to start the process of determining the types of renewable energy and places in all the other liberated lands. Such an instruction has already been issued and the first “smart village” pilot project in Zangilan district will be supplied with renewable energy today.

I stated that the liberated lands would be a green energy zone. I have already invited local and foreign investors. I should also note that the state itself carries out and will carry out the main work. By making investments, local and foreign investors will be able to secure their business interests and have their say in the long-term supply of Azerbaijan with sources of uninterrupted, cheap and environmentally friendly energy.

These are our plans. Kalbajar and Lachin districts have a huge potential for wind energy. In Zangilan and Jabrayil districts, there is more potential for solar energy. Initial studies have already been carried out. So by reconstructing our generating capacities and power transmission lines, we will turn Karabakh into a zone of “green energy”.

In announcing this program, I had exactly this in mind, and the first project is being commissioned today – the Gulabird hydroelectric power station you are seeing over there," noted the head of state.