This year, the energy and gas supplying organizations of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Belarus have met the main target - they provided reliable and uninterrupted energy supply to the real sector of the economy and the population
As the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus Viktor Karankevich informed at the Press Conference dedicated to the Energy Day, this year the energy and gas supplying organizations of the Ministry of Energy have met the main target - they have provided reliable and uninterrupted power supply to the real sector of the economy and the population.
Electricity consumption in the country by the end of the year is expected to be about 37.9 billion kWh, which is at the level of 2019.
The most important project for the industry is the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The readiness of the first power unit of the BelNPP is 99%. The stage of its power start-up is being completed today. The stage of experimental-industrial operation will begin in the near future.
Construction and installation work at the second power unit of the station is 75% complete. Currently, the installation of the main equipment, technological pipelines, and cabling is underway.
On November 30, 2020, Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 447 was adopted, which approved the dates for putting power units into commercial operation: the first - in 2021, the second - in the first half of 2022.
As part of the integration of the BelNPP into the country's energy system, work is being carried out to commission electric boilers at CHPPs and large boiler houses with a total capacity of 916 MW. This work should be completed by the end of the year. At power supply facilities, projects for the construction of pico-reserve sources with a total capacity of 800 MW are being implemented. Among them are Berezovskaya and Lukomlskaya GRES, Novopolotskaya TPP, Minsk TPP-5. To improve the reliability of the power system, the high-voltage substations "Belorusskaya", "Baranovichi", "Polotsk", "Lida" were reconstructed.
The power grid infrastructure is being modernized. Over 1.6 thousand power transmission lines have been built and reconstructed over the year. This work will continue, which will expand the possibilities for connecting the housing stock to electricity for heating and hot water supply.
In order to stimulate an increase in electricity consumption in the country, in 2019, new tariff groups for the population for electric energy for heating and hot water supply were introduced. For 11 months of 2020, more than 7 thousand subscribers switched to settlements for electricity tariffs for these needs.
There is a positive trend in the work with citizens' applications for the issuance of technical specifications for the connection of electrical installations of single-family residential buildings to electrical networks in order to use electrical energy for heating, hot water supply and food preparation. In January-November 2020, power supply organizations received 22.4 thousand such requests, of which 17.8 thousand, or 80%, were satisfied.
Particular attention is paid to the introduction of modern automation and digitalization technologies in the industry, intelligent control systems that improve the quality of energy supply in cities and rural areas, making it as comfortable as possible for consumers.
SPO Belenergo has developed a Strategy for Informatization and Digital Transformation for the Period 2020-2025, which provides for the transfer of data exchange between regional power systems to international standards, software modernization, replacement of metering devices with digital ones and other important actions in this direction.