The total capacity of facilities based on renewable energy generation in the Russian Federation for the first time exceeded 6 GW
Over the past year, the Russian renewable energy market has continued to adapt to the new operating conditions under the sanctions regime. Despite the difficulties caused by sanctions pressure, investors managed to solve a large number of the most difficult tasks, due to which a significant expansion of the industrial potential of the national renewable energy industry is expected.
As of July 2023, in Russia, the total installed capacity of facilities operating on the basis of the use of renewable energy sources for the first time exceeded the threshold of 6.0 GW.
In 2022 and the first half of 2023, the volume of additions under the CSA RES program amounted to 610 MW against 1.45 GW for the same period in 2020 and 2021. However, given the challenges faced by the industry following the unprecedented sanctions, this result can be considered a great success. Wind power plants (WPP) and solar power plants (SPP) are leading in the structure of installed RES capacity, which account for 2.5 GW and 2.2 GW of capacity, respectively, as well as small hydro power plants (sHPP) (with an installed capacity of up to 50 MW), which accounts for another 1.3 GW. In addition, there are biomass, biogas, landfill gas, tidal and geothermal power plants with a total capacity of more than 100 MW.
According to the results of the first half of 2023, the share of renewable energy generation in the total installed capacity of all generating facilities of the Russian energy system is approximately 2.5% (1.7% is accounted for by CSA RES facilities).
During the reporting period, an acceleration in the pace of development of renewable energy generation projects was noted as part of the support mechanism in the retail electricity markets. Since the beginning of 2022, the installed capacity in this segment has more than doubled, reaching 100 MW by July 2023: over 56 MW of solar generation have been built, of which 44 MW were commissioned in the first half of 2023, and 12 MW in 2022. Another 475 MW are in the implementation, mainly solar power capacities, other technologies account for less than 20%.
Aleksey Zhikharev, Director of ARVE: “The pace with which the Russian renewable energy industry has adjusted to the new working conditions under the sanctions regime inspires confidence that, despite its youth, the new industry has a stable foundation and can confidently withstand the most serious threats.
It is important to note that with the shift of priorities towards counteracting the crisis, the tasks of decarbonizing the Russian economy and ensuring sustainable development have not lost their relevance. Both the government and business demonstrate a consolidated position in this area. This is also evidenced by the results of the competitive selection of investment projects (the CSA RES 2.0 support program) this year. They can be described as extremely successful. Contrary to all the negative forecasts of the skeptics of the energy transition and, in particular, the development of renewable energy, who called for delaying the selection for at least another year under the pretext of the unpreparedness of the investment community for new projects, once again the competition was high. In total, more than 1825 MW were taken, which is 300 MW above the plan.
The RES industry in Russia is confidently looking to the future, focusing on the normalization of “atmospheric” flight conditions, and expects to restore the previous pace of development over the next year.”