Sebastian Burduja: "Diversification of energy supply through the Green Corridor will lead to cheaper energy"

The diversification of energy supply through the Green Corridor will lead to a cheaper price of energy in our country and in the region, stated Sebastian Burduja, the Minister of Energy, yesterday, during the press conference held at the end of the eighth meeting of the Ministers of Energy from the states involved in the realization of the Green Energy Corridor project, the main purpose of which is the creation of a submarine cable for the transport of green energy produced in Azerbaijan and Georgia to Romania.

Sebastian Burduja stated: "Energy must be safe, competitive and green. We cannot, just for the sake of green energy, compromise safety and competitiveness. The more routes we have, the more sources we have, the cheaper energy will become. The fact that the European states in our region will have access to energy from a totally different market like the one in the Caucasus will certainly lead to diversification of supply and cheaper energy. It is not a cheap project - we will find out the costs after the feasibility study is presented to us, but we know that 3.5 billion euros are needed to build the submarine cable between Georgia and Romania, and we also know that this project will be beneficial for security energy and for the market".

The Romanian Minister of Energy recalled that this strategic project for the European Union was launched in Bucharest two years ago and showed that yesterday the association between the four transport operators - Transelectrica SA, AzerEnerji JSC, Georgian State Electrosystem and MVM Zrt was signed . - for the establishment of a company based in Bucharest that will deal with the implementation of this vital project for Europe's energy security.

Minister Burduja also said: "For us, this project represents a matter of national security. We talk a lot about the need to diversify the electricity supply. If you look at the energy map of Europe in the last few days, you will find that on the eastern flank the prices are very high, and this is caused by the fact that there is no diversification of the supply chains. The European market is not working well enough. Cheaper energy does not always reach the east of the continent, and that is why we need additional energy supply routes to ensure energy security and competitiveness. Under these conditions, we are discussing the creation of a green energy corridor and I am glad that Bucharest was chosen as the headquarters of the company established by the association of transport companies from the member states of this project".

• 1200 kilometers submarine cable for transporting electricity

For his part, Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: "Hungary has essential goals in terms of energy. First of all, we are interested in the security of energy supply, and secondly, we want green energy. We believe that those objectives can be achieved through a single action, by accessing additional resources provided by the green corridor project. The length of the submarine cable will be approximately 1,200 kilometers, which is a world record in the matter. In order to include the green energy of Azerbaijan and Georgia in the national energy mix, it is necessary that this infrastructure project be completed as soon as possible. We will do everything possible, through the national electricity transmission operator that is part of the new joint venture whose foundations were laid today, to speed up the implementation of this project".

Parviz Shahbazov Ogtay, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan stated that the feasibility study of the project is in progress, and its results will be discussed at the next meeting to be held in Baku. He mentioned: "This green corridor will become in the future, by joining the parallel corridor that starts from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and passes through Turkey, a Euro-Asian energy project that will solve many problems regarding the energy security of the European Union".

• European Union, partner in the Green Energy Corridor project

Levan Davitashvili, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia said: "We are talking about an ambitious project that also considers the energy security of the South Caucasus, but which can also be extended to Central Asia. The future infrastructure of the green corridor will contribute to the achievement of a competitive energy market, which will increase the competitiveness of European industry through the use of green, sustainable energy from renewable sources in the South Caucasus. We will continue to invest in innovative green projects such as those on the use of hydrogen, but also in projects on photovoltaics parks and the construction of new hydropower plants, in order to be one of the important suppliers of green energy in the European Union, especially since we want to become members of this community".

We remind you that on December 17, 2022, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed in Bucharest, in the presence of Ursula von der Leyen - the president of the European Commission -, a strategic partnership agreement for the construction of the Black Sea Green Energy Corridor submarine electric cable. The project will include a cable with a maximum transmission capacity of one gigawatt hour, which will cross the submarine Black Sea between Georgia and Romania over a distance of 1,195 kilometers. Through this submarine cable will be transported the green electricity produced in the Caspian Sea by the offshore wind farms of Azerbaijan, energy that will be distributed in Romania, Hungary and other EU member states. At the time of signing the agreement, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, stated that the institution from Brussels intends to allocate 2.3 billion euros for the implementation of this project.