Extension of support for renewable energy sources will allow in 10 years constructing 10 GW of "green" generation in Russia

The extension of the state program to support the development of "green generation" after 2024 for 10 years will allow the construction of power plants operating based on renewable energy sources (RES) with a total capacity of 10 GW. This was announced by the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak, speaking at the online conference "Energy of the Future".

“We have set ourselves the task of extending the program for another 10 years, constructing another 10,000 MW,” the minister said.

Measures of state support for the construction of generating facilities based on RES, assuming a return on investment with a guaranteed income rate, are in force until 2024, but the selection of projects under this program has already been practically completed.

The government previously decided to extend the program to support the construction of generation based on renewable energy sources for 10 years after 2024, but the parameters of the new program have not yet been approved. It was reported that as part of the extension of the green energy support program, it is proposed to increase the depth of localization of equipment for renewable energy generation in Russia and to secure the need for investors to export produced components for renewable energy.

Novak noted that incentives must be created for the development of renewable energy in Russia. Currently, the share of "green generation" in the country's energy balance is 2%, the task is to increase it to 4-5%.

At the same time, the minister noted that against the background of the coronavirus pandemic, the pace of development of renewable energy did not slow down, which suggests that the share of "green generation" in the energy balance by 2040 may be 30%, including hydro generation, and not 26%, as previously planned.

Currently, gas stations accounted for the major share in Russia in the energy balance of the country (46%), 19% - falls on nuclear power and coal plants, 18% - on hydro power, Novak said.