Russia

Country Profile

(.pdf file - 1.41 MB)

 

1. Overview

2. Policy and Incentives

 

3. Wind

4. Biomass

5. Solar

6. Geothermal

7. Hydroelectric

 

8. Links

9. References

10. Country Contacts

 

Russia is the fourth largest generator of electricity, behind the US, China, and Japan.  Russia's power sector includes over 440 thermal and hydropower plants plus 31 nuclear reactors. A few generators in the far-eastern part of the country are not connected to the power grid. The system has a total electric generation capacity of 205.6 gigawatts (GW), and in 2003 generated approximately 850.6 billion kilowatt hours (bkwh) of electric power. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, electricity generation showed both a dramatic decline, (down 18 percent between 1992 and 1999), followed by a gradual recovery (up 8 percent between 1999 and 2002). Similar to patterns in oil, natural gas, and coal, the economic slowdown which followed the Soviet Union's collapse also stunted electricity generation. Economic recovery contributed to an increase in total electricity consumption from 715 BkWh in 1998, to roughly 780 BkWh in 2002.

Russia: Fourth Largest Power Producer in the World

Source: IEA       

Roughly 63 percent of Russia’s electricity is generated by thermal plants, 21 percent is generated with hydropower, and about 16 percent comes from 31 nuclear reactors. Half of the operating reactors are based on the same design as the Chernobyl plant, and many of the plants are nearing the end of their rated working lifetimes.

Russia is currently working to privatize the nation’s energy sector and pave the way for open wholesale electric competition. Efforts are also underway to integrate Russia’s energy grid with that of Western Europe. Russia exports significant quantities of electricity to the countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as to China, Poland, Turkey and Finland.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s, Russia has seen severe recession and economic boom in the space of a decade. The industrial landscape has changed significantly with the advent of competition, and extensive foreign investment. This changed has reached the energy sector, with restructuring efforts underway to privatize the industry. Despite the progress, the electric sector faces many of the same challenges as other eastern European countries, including uneconomic tariff structures, non-payment, and aging electric systems.

 

Electricity Generation and Consumption in Russia: 1993-2003

 

Russia has some of the largest reserves of coal and natural gas in the world. Russia also has great potential of renewable energy sources, largely due to its size and range of geographic features. The renewable potential is especially applicable in some of the more remote parts of Russia. Transportation of fuel from energy rich portions of the country to these remote sectors can significantly increase the cost of fuel and energy. As a result, some remote territories spend more than half their budgets on fuel. Geothermal resources in the Far East or North Caucasus, or hydro from the many watersheds, or new renewables such as wind and solar energy could potentially serve remote populations and provide energy at competitive prices on the grid.

With some 10 million people not connected to the electricity grid, Russia also has huge potential markets for off-grid electricity systems based on renewable energy. In many isolated settlements, renewables can be the most economic, and perhaps even the only way to provide electricity and heat to consumers.

Russia
Country Summary Table

  Electricity Development

Source: Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation

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Over the last decade, significant steps in an on-going privatization and de-monopolization process have taken place in the Russian energy sector. A key element of these reforms is the introduction of cost-based pricing. In particular, major progress has been made in the electricity sector reform process with the adoption of a package of laws in April-May 2003. Work on secondary implementation legislation is currently underway and expected to be finalized by end-2003.

Reform in other energy markets is also underway, though its pace differs from sector to sector. Domestic prices of oil and oil products are already close to international levels. Domestic gas prices, which are still much lower than export prices, are gradually rising and are expected to reach international levels in the future. Then, as the existing energy infrastructure expands, comparisons among different fuel sources and technologies will favor those renewable energy technologies that are currently competitive in many market applications.

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In the 1930s Russia was the first in the world to start constructing utility-scale wind turbines.  Russia has enormous renewable energy resource potential, but current use of renewable energy is quite low.

Russia is one of the largest countries in the world and is situated in different climatic zones, which result in high wind energy potential. Mostly the highest wind energy potential is concentrated along Russia Federation seacoasts, in the vast territories of steppes and in the mountains.   Estimation of wind energy potential of Russia has been done several times. One of the first calculated in 1935, defined resources as 18,000 TWh for USSR, as a whole.  Recent estimates put the total technical wind energy potential in Russia equivalent to 2,000 million tons of equivalent fuel. 

The regions most favorable for wind energy use include the North of Russia and Far East.  The option of grid-connected wind power production may benefit from the existence of the unique extensive UPS. At the same time stand-alone wind power systems might be promising in the remote mountain and coastal regions which have large wind potential and are not connected to a grid. Western experience, research, and technologies could act as a catalyst to accelerate the introduction of wind energy.

According to the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1989 all the research and design works in the renewable energy technologies were united on the State Scientific and Technological program Ecologically Clean Energy. The program included development of various wind turbine models 0.25 - 1'250 kW. Later the 30 kW and 1,250 kW models were abandoned due to lack of financing. The leading R&D organizations in the program were Vetroen and Yuzhnoe (both Science Production Associations), Hydroproject (Scientific Research Institute), Raduga (Design Office) and Energobalance-SoVENA.

Over most of Russia, wind speeds are greater in the daytime than at night, although this variation is much less pronounced in the winter. The annual variation in mean wind speed (i.e. the difference between the maximum and minimum mean daily speeds) is insignificant for most parts of Russia. The annual amplitude varies from 1 to 4 m/s, making up 2-3 m/s on the average. Amplitudes are higher over the center of the European part of Russia, East Siberia, West Siberia (except for northern areas) and especially in the Far East where amplitude reaches 4 m/s. Annual amplitude of less than 2 m/s is observed over the south-west and south-east of the European part of Russia and over Central Siberia.

Several attempts have been made to estimate the exact potential of wind energy in Russia, beginning with the Wind Atlas published in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. More recently, have estimated gross wind potential at 26,000 million tones of coal equivalent, technical potential at 2,000 mtce, and economic potential at 10 mtce. According to analysis, about 30 percent of the economic potential of wind development is concentrated in the Far East, about 16 percent in West Siberia and another 16 percent in East Siberia.

There are surprisingly few projects in the pipeline, especially when considering the potential wind energy potential.  There is currently 7 MW of wind energy capacity installed in Russia.

A state of the art Wind Atlas of Russia was published in 2002.The highest wind energy potential is concentrated along Russia Federation seacoasts, in the vast territories of steppes and in the mountains.

Russia has excellent wind energy potential. An attempt to utilize only 25 percent of the available technical potential estimated in the "Master Plan of Wind Power Development of the USSR till 2010”, 1989 would lead to installation of some 175,000 MW of wind power.

 

Wind atlas of Russia

 

 

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Russia has about 22 percent of the world’s forests located on its territory.  Forests cover about 40 percent of the entire landmass, with the current annual allowable cut of 542 million m3.  The largest forests are in the Siberian taiga, the Far East and the northern European territories. The forest industry is important for the Russian economy, and it is a large potential supplier and consumer of biomass (wood waste) products. At present, these products are only being minimally exploited. Agricultural wastes are another source of biomass fuel. The agricultural sector is also important in Russia, accounting for 8 percent of GDP, and employing 11 percent of the labor force.  The technical potential of biomass is estimated at more than 50 Mtce.

 

Forests’ Portrait of Russia on the Global Scale

Forested Area, mill.ha

Source: All-Russian Research and Information Centre for Forest Resources

According to IEA statistics, Russia used 7.5 Mtoe of combustible renewables (biomass) and wastes in 1999, and 6.9 Mtoe in 2000.32 This figure is approximate, because there are no official statistics on traditional biomass use for heat and hot water production by individuals in the countryside. Strebkov estimates that individuals in rural areas use 30 Mtce (21 Mtoe) of wood each year, and people in semi-rural industrial settlements, meteorological and geological sites, and in the fishing industry use another 10 Mtce (7 Mtoe).

About 40 thermal power stations use biomass (mostly waste from the wood processing industry) along with other fuels. Biomass is also used as solid fuel in certain district heating boilers. Russia has some 100 plants that convert biomass and agricultural wastes into biogas today. Municipal and industrial wastes are utilized at large incineration plants.  The city of Moscow has two incinerators, which provide many benefits:  removing wastes, improving energy efficiency, improving sanitation and consequently the health of the population. The Ministry of Natural Resources is in the process of drafting a new law on municipal wastes.

Source: Land Resources of Russia

 

Russia Biomass Resource Data

Biomass resource type	Total production	Production density
Percent of total land area covered by
Forests	46%
Shrublands, savanna, and grasslands	27%
Cropland and crop/natural vegetation mosaic	15%
Urban and built-up areas	0%
Sparse or barren vegetation; snow and ice	5%
Wetlands and water bodies	6%
Primary crop production, tonne	(avg. 1999-2001, tonne)	(tonne /1000 Ha)
Total primary crops (rank among COO)	383,046,975  (1)	227  (25)
Top 10 primary crops
Mixed Grasses, Legumes	160,515,008	95
Maize for Forage & Silage	68,000,000	40
Wheat	37,422,050	22
Potatoes	33,281,283	20
Forage Products (misc)	15,000,000	9
Barley	14,734,207	9
Sugar Beets	14,602,347	9
Oats	6,135,647	4
Rye	5,394,010	3
Cabbages	3,980,183	2
Animal units, number	(number)	(number / 1000 Ha)
Cattle	27,990,000	17
Poultry	345,084,000	204
Pigs	17,774,150	11
Equivalent animal units	38,550,500	23
Annual roundwood production	(1996-98, 000 m3)	(m3 / Ha)
Total	115693	68.5
Fuel	36670	21.7
Industrial	79023	46.8
Wood-based panels	3286	1.9
	(1996-98, 000 metric tons)	(metric tons / Ha)
Paper and paperboard	4456	2.6
Recovered paper	1323	0.8

 

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Russia lags behind leading countries in terms of development and production of solar collectors. The main reason for this is the lack of sufficient demand for such units, and given the lack of state programs of assistance, there is insufficient funding for research engineering in this field.

In spite of general northern geographic location, Russia possesses considerable solar resources. Annually the solar radiation energy incident on its territory is equivalent to 18.7×10⁹ GWh that exceeds significantly the power potential of any other available energy resources.

The technical potential of solar energy was estimated as 18.7×10⁶ GWh, with an economic potential around 1×10⁵ GWh per year in the national report “Role of renewable energy sources in energy strategy of Russia”. The technical potential is equal to the solar energy incident into 0.1 percent of territory of the country, while the economic potential constitutes about 0.5 percent of technical potential.

The annual course of solar radiation, i.e. its incidence during a year, has quite considerable meaning for using the solar energy. Data on the total solar radiation incident on the horizontal surface and data on the direct solar radiation on a surface parallel to beams are presented below in Tables 1 and 2 correspondingly. They are given for five different points at the territory of Russia located in the different geographical and climatic zones of the country. Two areas, Sochi and Astrakhan are located in the southern part of European territory, while the other three are located in Asian territory: Kyzil is located in the southern part of Siberia, Mangut is in southern Transbaikalia and Vladivostok is in the Far East.

Total solar radiation incident on horizontal surface, MJ/m²