Azerbaijan & ABB Forge High-Tech Energy Partnership

ABB Deepens Deeper Technological Ties with Azerbaijan via Historic Energy Project

The high-tech partnership between Switzerland and Azerbaijan is realizing an exciting new milestone. Swiss industrial goliath ABB, a global leader in electrification and automation, has begun a significant project at the Sangachal terminal in Azerbaijan, the nation's largest oil and gas terminal and regional energy hub. The project marks a new era in high-tech partnership between the two nations.

Powering a Colossus with Cleaner Technologies

Azerbaijan's Sangachal terminal owner bp has put ABB under a large order to enhance the electrification and stability of power grids in this colossal oil and gas terminal. Spanning an enormous 688 hectares (larger than over 800 football pitches), linking the facility with Azerbaijan's national grid will support massive electrification. Under a five-year global framework contract signed in September 2024, ABB will supply and install four specially designed synchronous condensers. These critical units will enable the retirement of aging gas turbines, a major step on the path to an even more efficient and sustainable plant.

Breakthrough Technology for Enhanced Stability and Efficiency

ABB's combined solution will reduce the number of synchronous condensers required for the terminal, which will result in significant cost reduction for the project as a whole. ABB Ability System 800xA Distributed Control System (DCS) will be utilized to integrate harmoniously with the synchronous condensers, providing robust monitoring and supervision for plant operators. Worthily, ABB's synchronous condensers are designed with a compact footprint, guaranteeing efficient and stable power grid and electricity network operation. Strong units are needed in ensuring electricity grids with short-circuit power, inertia, and reactive power, increasingly important in maintaining the stability of power grids as more renewable energy sources are utilized.

Facilitating Azerbaijan's Green Energy Transition

Azerbaijan's electricity grid is in the process of actively incorporating low-carbon sources as part of its ambitious climate targets. The nation has ambitions to increase its renewable power capacity to 30% by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by a whopping 40% by 2050. Already, the contribution of renewables to Azerbaijan's electricity supply has witnessed steady growth, from over 6% in 2022 to 8% in 2023. With the extent of the deal covering all the way from the preliminary system studies to the detailed engineering, installation, and commissioning, ABB's latest electrification and automation solutions are set to be at the forefront of keeping Sangachal terminal's production stable and continuous and contributing directly to Azerbaijan's more sustainable future.

A Vow to Decarbonization and Local Presence

"ABB makes existing energy infrastructures run leaner, by automating to drive efficiency, and cleaner, by electrifying to use less energy and decarbonize," said Per Erik Holsten, president of ABB's Energy Industries division. He added that the company was delighted to provide site-specific electrification and automation solutions to facilitate bp's ambition to decarbonize the energy system in a country where ABB has had a very strong presence for over 25 years. The Sangachal terminal, 55 kilometers outside Baku, has an astonishing daily capacity to process 1.2 million barrels of oil and some 81 million standard cubic meters of gas.