In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and National Security Adviser, and His Excellency Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC – Masdar, a global clean energy leader, signed a collaboration agreement with Azerbaijan Green Energy Company (AGEC) to explore the development of new renewable energy projects in Azerbaijan. Masdar and SOCAR Green also announced they have reached financial close on the 315MW Neftchala Solar PV project.

The collaboration agreement includes plans to explore the potential expansion of Masdar’s 230-megawatt (MW) Garadagh Solar PV by a minimum of 350MW, together with the addition of a battery energy storage system (BESS) of up to 200 megawatt-hours (MWh).

Masdar and AGEC will also explore the development of a 100MW round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy project. The project would build on Masdar’s pioneering work in Abu Dhabi, where it is developing a world-first US$6.1 billion gigascale RTC renewable energy project.

The agreement was signed by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chairman of Masdar, and Khayala Naghiyeva, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of AGEC.

Neftchala financial close

Masdar and SOCAR Green, a wholly owned subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s SOCAR state oil company, are co-developing the Neftchala project, in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy. Financing is being provided by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The signatories were Dr Al Jaber, Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy.

Located in the Neftchala district of Azerbaijan, the project is expected to generate more than 686 million kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity annually, enough to power around 140,000 homes, while avoiding approximately 280,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

Pioneering renewable energy in Azerbaijan

Masdar has established a strong track record in Azerbaijan since entering the market with the Garadagh project, inaugurated in 2023. Garadagh, which was also Azerbaijan’s first foreign investment-based independent utility-scale solar power project, generates approximately 500 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually, enough to power more than 110,000 homes.

In addition to the Neftchala project, Masdar is also developing two other projects with SOCAR Green – the 445MW Bilasuvar solar project and the 240MW Absheron-Garadagh onshore wind project – taking Masdar’s total capacity in Azerbaijan to over 1.2GW.

Growing RTC experience

The proposed RTC development would draw on Masdar’s growing experience in combining renewable generation with large-scale battery storage to provide reliable and dispatchable electricity.

The gigascale RTC project in Abu Dhabi, which Masdar is developing with Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), combines a 5.2-gigawatt (GW) solar photovoltaic plant with a 19GWh BESS to deliver up to 1GW of baseload renewable power 24 hours a day. The project reached financial close in July 2026.

Masdar has a diversified portfolio of more than 65GW, spanning both established and high-growth renewable energy markets and covering the full spectrum of renewable technologies, including solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, battery energy storage and hybrid solutions. With a clear pathway to 100GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, Masdar continues to expand its global platform through disciplined growth across priority markets, delivering reliable, affordable clean power to meet the world's rapidly growing electricity demand.