Turkey is working with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Bulgaria on a regional electricity corridor that would carry power from the Caucasus through Turkey to Europe, expanding an energy partnership built on oil and gas pipelines into the electricity trade, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Monday.
The project would expand energy cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan beyond oil and natural gas into electricity trade and green energy infrastructure.
Speaking at the Baku Energy Forum, part of Baku Energy Week, Bayraktar said Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria and other regional countries were working to deepen electricity interconnections and develop a wider regional power network.
“We are going to create the electricity version of TANAP” he said, referring to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline that carries Azerbaijani gas through Turkey to Europe.
The plan envisions a cross-border electricity corridor that would allow participating countries to trade surplus power to accommodate higher renewable and nuclear power output in Turkey.
Bayraktar said Turkey is also preparing a $30 billion upgrade of its electricity transmission and distribution system over the next decade to accommodate rising energy production.
He said the upgrades would strengthen interconnection capacity with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Bulgaria, which makes it easier to transmit electricity across borders.
The minister also referred to broader efforts to create what he described as a more integrated energy space across the Caucasus and the southeast Europe, where electricity systems operate in closer coordination.
The initiative builds on existing energy infrastructure between Turkey and Azerbaijan, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, the South Caucasus gas pipeline and TANAP.
These projects have been shaping regional energy flows and strengthened Turkey’s role as a transit hub between Asia and Europe.
In a message to Baku Energy Week delivered by Bayraktar, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said electricity interconnections between Turkey and Azerbaijan remain strategically important.
He pointed to plans for a “Green Electricity Transmission and Trade” project involving Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Bulgaria, and said the two countries’ cooperation continues to expand into new areas.
Erdoğan also referred to recent joint projects, including the Iğdır-Nakhchivan gas pipeline and said further opportunities exist to expand regional energy exports and cooperation.
Turkey and Azerbaijan have a longstanding energy partnership built on major oil and gas pipelines. Turkey has been seeking to strengthen cross-border electricity interconnections as renewable and nuclear capacity grows, while regional countries in southeast Europe and the Caucasus move to improve energy security through closer electricity integration.