The Energy Ministry of Russia has submitted a draft law to Dmitri Medvedev that is intended to support the deployment of renewable energy sources, including solar power, wind power, and hydroelectric power.
Russian Flag.
Image Credit: Giocomai from Flickr.
Russia failed to meet its 2010 renewable energy target, which was to obtain 1.5% of the country’s electricity demand from renewable power plants. (In 2011, it had yet to reach 1%.)
There are currently no details available about tariffs for specific technologies. Notably, however, the new law promises a 14% return on investment. And the electricity will be bought through Power Purchase Agreements.
If approved, this project would cost 85 billion rubles (approximately $2,716,396,000 or €2 billion). It is an incentive scheme that will prioritize projects that are in line with a local content requirement.
Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are some of the largest petroleum (oil) exporters in the entire world. They are each in the top 8 of petroleum producers. Yet they acknowledge the environmental consequences of using petroleum, and the UAE especially is aggressively pursuing solar and wind energy.
Some may wonder why Russia and the other two Arabian countries would bother to pursue this, since they have so much oil they could use.
There are two key reasons, as far as I can see:
- Climate change, air, and water pollution (smog air pollution leads to water pollution). Smog is destructive to public health, and is therefore unacceptable;
- The less oil these countries use, the more they can export, hence increasing foreign exchange revenue and massive petroleum-derived profits.
Norway has already gotten pretty far compared to the rest of the world, and it is another major oil exporter. It has one of the strongest electric car markets, and it uses little to no oil to generate electricity.
This new plan’s target is for Russia to obtain 2% to 2.5% of its electricity from renewable sources, or 6 GW of installed capacity, by 2020. Hardly a large amount, but it is movement.
The draft law was supposed to be approved by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev yesterday, April 25, but there is currently no word about the matter in English media.
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
