OREANDA-NEWS. December 26, 2007. Industry and Energy Ministry has submitted to the Government a general scheme for allocation of power plants in the territory of Russia till 2020

The head of the ministry’s relevant department Vyacheslav Kravchenko says that the scheme was sent to the Government last weekend.

“We are not expecting the approval this year but after the holidays this is quite possible,” says Kravchenko.

“This is a system document. All people working in the energy sector and related industries are anticipating its adoption: power engineers, producers and suppliers of fuel, railroaders, consumers, machine builders, regions. We have drafted it in an unprecedentedly short period – 1.5 years. The scheme has been coordinated with all concerned parties — Rosatom, Economic Development Ministry, federal districts — as well as with coal miners, Gazprom and even Russian Railways OJSC — as we will need to increase the capacity of some railroads,” says Kravchenko.

“Until recently we have had differences with Gazprom on a number of plants, particularly, concerning start-up deadlines and types of fuel. However, presently, Gazprom is actively expanding into the electric energy sector and is obtaining some of the disputable facilities. So, we hope that all our disputes will be settled through a constructive negotiating process.” “We may well revise the scheme in the future. It is not a dogma. We are planning to review it once in three years,” says Kravchenko. 

The scheme is based on the forecast of 4% annual energy consumption growth. However, this figure may vary from region to region. The scheme covers all NPPP construction projects, projects for building water power plants with a total capacity of 200MW and thermal power plants with a total capacity of 500MW as well as power transmission lines, networks, sub-stations and other infrastructure.

By 2020 Russia’s nuclear power plants are supposed to redouble their production; the output of water power plants is supposed to be increased by 60%; coal power plants will produce twice, gas power plants 50% as much as they produce at present. The Government is planning to enhance the efficiency of gas consumption at power plants due to modern gas burning technologies and effective energy saving mechanisms. By 2010 annual gas consumption in the sector is supposed to make up 186bln c m and to grow by 20% a year to 210bln c m a year by 2020.