Report - UNDP Russia

generating technologies 4 . Also, Russia can drawon the experience of the EU, US and other countries,where government grants to renewable energycompanies make their projects profitable.In western European countries and someUS states certain types of renewable energy arealready fully competitive with conventional fuels.Electricity generating cost at wind-powerinstallations has now fallen to 4 euro-cents perkilowatt-hour thanks to implementation of largescaleprojects, technology improvements, andmore efficient manufacturing.As shown in Figure 6.3, the cost ofelectricity produced from renewable energyresources in Russia is significantly higher than incountries with mature renewable energyindustries. The cost gap between electricityproduced from renewable sources and from fossilfuels is also much bigger in Russia than inWestern Europe and the US.6.4. Examples of renewablesbest practice in RussiaThe Russian government is keen toaccelerate renewable energy development,targeting increase of the renewable share inelectricity production from 0.9% to 4.5% by 2020.Development of renewable energy is anexpensive project, but essential in the currentcontext.Box 6.1. Tidal power plantsCapital costs for construction of a tidalpower plant consist mainly of cost of the dam.The Kislogubskaya Tidal Power Plant made firsteveruse of the floating caissons method:reinforced concrete sections of the dam weremade on the shore and towed to their finallocation at sea. This method enables largesavings on construction costs, and is nowrecognized worldwide as the best way ofbuilding dams for tidal power plants.Renewable energy needs regulatorysupport from government, and since heat andpower production is now almost entirelyprivately-owned, implementation of renewableenergy projects should be based on privatepublicpartnerships.There are a number of successfullyoperating renewable energy facilities in Russia,which can serve as a basis for furtherdevelopment of the sector.The 0.4 MW Kislogubskaya Tidal Power Planthas been operating since 1968 in the Kola Peninsula.Construction and testing of the plant helped toadvance tidal energy technologies (Box 6.1).Technology and design that has provento be effective at the Kislogubskaya Plant will beused to create future tidal plants (Severnaya Plantin Dolgaya Bay, as well as the Mezenskaya andTugurskaya Plants).Russia also has experience, technologyand locally designed equipment for production ofgeothermal energy. In 1999 the Verkhne-Mutnovskaya Geothermal Power Plant wascommissioned with 12 MW installed capacity. Themain advantage of this industrial scale pilot plant isthat the thermal cycle enables environmentfriendlyuse of the geothermal carrier, avoidingdirect contact with the environment through useof air condensers and an ecologically clean cyclefor geothermal fluid utilization.Binary cycle geothermal power plants arealso an interesting option (Box 6.2).Hydro turbine equipment is the othermain cost component for a tidal power plant.The Kislogubskaya plant uses an orthogonalunit with the axis of turbine rotationperpendicular to the water flow. The turbinealways rotates in the same direction regardlessof the direction of the water flow.Simple design and low metalrequirements per unit of the structure made itpossible to reduce costs, and manufacturingand installation time by nearly half.4Average cost of 1 KW of installed capacity at US nuclear power plants which came on-stream in the mid-1980s was USD 3500-4000,while the cost for nuclear power plants about to be commissioned now will not exceed USD 1500 per KW (according to manufacturers).114 National Human Development Report in the Russian Federation 2009