Azerbaijan offers investors auctions and direct deals to boost renewables

Azerbaijan is set to significantly boost electricity production from renewable energy sources in the coming years, according to Rana Humbatova, Deputy Director of the State Agency on Renewable Energy Sources under the Ministry of Energy, Azernews reports.

Speaking at Baku Climate Action Week 2025, she highlighted that as of the end of 2024, the share of ‘green energy’ in the country’s energy mix has already reached 13.5% and is expected to grow further with the implementation of new projects.

Humbatova explained that Azerbaijan offers investors two main mechanisms for participation in the renewable sector: public auctions and direct negotiations. The first auction was held within the framework of COP29, where the Chinese company Universal won the rights to develop a 400 MW solar power plant at a competitive rate of just 3.54 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Strategic partners in Azerbaijan’s green energy drive include major international companies such as Masdar (UAE), ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia), and bp (UK). Notably, in 2023, a 230 MW solar power plant developed in partnership with Masdar was successfully commissioned, and another 240 MW wind power project with ACWA Power is scheduled to be launched in the near future.

Humbatova also emphasized that increasing the share of renewables will contribute not only to higher installed capacity but also to greater actual volumes of clean energy production across the country.

YouTube to compensate for freezing US president’s account

YouTube, owned by Google, has agreed to pay U.S. President Donald Trump $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit related to the suspension of his account following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. While Trump’s YouTube channel was not permanently deleted, he was banned from uploading new videos. His full access was only restored in 2023, Azernews reports.

With this settlement, Google becomes the last of the three major tech companies to resolve lawsuits filed by Trump in July 2021. At the time, he accused YouTube, Facebook (Meta), and Twitter (now X), along with their CEOs, of illegally censoring conservative voices and violating his right to free speech.

Earlier this year, Meta agreed to pay approximately $25 million in January, and X paid around $10 million in February to settle similar cases brought by Trump.

According to Trump’s legal team, the lawsuits weren’t just about restoring his accounts but about highlighting what he called the “danger Big Tech poses to free expression.” Interestingly, even after regaining access to these platforms, Trump has largely favored using his own social media network, Truth Social, which he launched in 2022 to promote what he calls an ‘uncensored alternative.’

These settlements suggest that the tech giants preferred to resolve the matter quietly rather than risk prolonged legal battles with significant political and reputational stakes.