On 20–21 May, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) student chapter organised the region's first student summit on renewable energy.
Caspian Energy Summit is the first SPE student summit in Azerbaijan and Russia/Caspian region, focusing on transitioning from oil and gas to renewable energy. The summit was organised with the support of Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University, Azerbaijani-French University, SPE Azerbaijan section, BP, and Equinor.
SPE President Kamel Ben-Naceur made a welcoming video message for the summit participants. The video message noted that the theme of the energy transition is extremely important to ensure that we have a sustainable energy future for our generation and future generations. It was pointed out that energy availability, security, affordability and clean energy are the most critical issues today.
The SPE President's message was followed by speeches on "Overview of Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Outlook" by SPE Azerbaijan Section Director Aleksandra Khramtseva; "SPE Gaia Introduction" by SPE Gaia Regional Liaison Ilyas Sarybekov. In their speeches, representatives of key energy companies in Azerbaijan such as BP, Socar, Equinor, Total, EcoEnergy, Socar Downstream, and Masdar talked about their transition outlook, ongoing and future projects, challenges for the next generation, as well as the technical aspects of the energy transition.
The summit was followed by a team competition on renewable energy projects. Each team was assigned a specific topic and provided the materials to get started. The 11 teams were young professionals and students from three local universities. Every team presented their project to a panel of judges made of professors from French-Azerbaijani University and industry professionals from EcoEnergy, TotalEnergies, Socar Downstream, and European Bank of Reconstruction and Development who are working on renewable energy. Team "SuperNova" from Azerbaijani-French University won first place in the competition.
