The Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic took part in the round table: "Energy Security of the regions of the Far North and the Far East", which was held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation as part of the VII International conference "The Arctic: Sustainable Development". The key topic of discussion was the development of distributed generation in remote and isolated areas of the macroregion.
According to the moderator of the discussion, Chairman of the Board of NP "Eurosolar Russia" Georgy Kekelidze, the main result of the round table was the awareness of the need to accelerate the efforts of domestic science to introduce applied technologies demanded by the industry for distributed generation and local power supply using renewable energy. A working group has been created with the participation of heads of industrial, scientific organizations and regional ministries of energy and housing and communal services.
"The rapid development of science and technology makes it possible to create efficient sources of local energy supply based on geographically accessible energy sources, including renewable energy sources. This direction is especially relevant for ensuring the energy security of the territories of the Far North and the Far East, where the absence of a centralized energy infrastructure requires a reliable, efficient and environmentally friendly source of local energy supply. Business is ready to participate in projects to modernize inefficient diesel, fuel oil and coal generation, while the state should create clear and transparent conditions for the development of this industry," Georgy Kekelidze said.
Violetta Kiushkina, Acting Head of the Department of Energy Security and Infrastructure of the Fuel and Energy Complex of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "REA" of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, member of the branch of the Scientific and Expert Council for the Northwestern Federal District under the working group of the Federation Council on monitoring the implementation of legislation in the field of energy, energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement, spoke about the state and prospects of energy security in the Arctic.
As the expert noted, the energy supply of remote and isolated territories of the Far East and the Arctic is characterized by negative indicators and trends that lead to emergencies in fuel and energy supply systems. The energy security of various facilities located in such areas is an urgent problem today and its importance is increasing in connection with large-scale projects for the development of the macroregion.
"The state of the autonomous power supply system is characterized by many factors, including the availability of electric and thermal energy to consumers, resource security, reliability of fuel and energy supply, the state of fixed assets, environmental and financial and economic characteristics, energy saving and energy efficiency indicators. In order to ensure the long-term functioning of such energy systems, to ensure the state of protection of vital interests of objects and territories, it is necessary to take into account a set of factors and conditions affecting the state of energy security, which must be monitored on an ongoing basis," Violetta Kiushkina said.
The opportunities of large industrial companies to participate in the development of the industry were announced by the representative of JSC "Power Machines" Dmitry Ostapchuk. The pilot projects were presented by the Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology, the Rosatom State Corporation, the Kurchatov Institute and the Alekseev NSTU. The participants of the round table also included Andreas Dreisibner, Co-chairman of the Swiss Renewable Energy Association, who noted the importance of continuing international applied scientific cooperation.
According to Vasily Potemkin, Deputy director of the Department of Industry Expertise of the KRDV, the electric power industry is a strategic industry of any state, the functioning of which primarily relies on large state-owned companies. The specifics of the industry in the Far East and the Arctic and the need to maintain a low level of electricity tariffs for consumers do not allow us to talk about the possibility of a large-scale influx of private investment in the industry. At the same time, the introduction of modern technological solutions to ensure local energy supply can often be implemented faster and more efficiently through the involvement of an active business community.
"As part of our activities, we interact with a significant number of responsible private companies that, on transparent terms of return on investment, are ready to invest their own funds in the creation and modernization of local energy facilities in the Far East and the Arctic, thus ensuring the energy security of the macroregion. We consider it expedient to provide state support to such investors in order to reduce the burden on the budget system and develop technology business in the field of distributed generation. It is for this purpose that we have developed and are successfully promoting the Concept of attracting private investment in this area. We invite all interested companies and investment funds to take part in this work," summed up ESG expert Vasily Potemkin.
Distributed generation of the Arctic awaits investments
5 March 2022