Krasnodar GRES Project Volume I11 Environmental Assessment

production and the large land area required, wind energy is not a viable
alternative.
7.2.3 Solar Thermal
The number of overcast days with 8 to 10 points of total cloudiness in the
Mostovskoy area has been estimated at 114 days per year, based on
meteorological data from the Perepravnaya and Gubskaya sites. In addition, these
same data indicate that the winter season, that period of peak power demand,
has the greatest number of cloudy days, averaging 13 days per month. Thus
solar power, even with appropriate energy storage, will not likely produce or store
sufficient energy to meet the power demands during winter, since approximately
43% of the time essentially no power can be produced. And, on an annualized
basis, power can not be generated approximately 31 % of the time. It has also
been estimated that a solar power and storage facility, capable of producing 900
MW of electricity would require approximately 37,400 hectares of land.") Thus,
given this technology's capability to produce and store sufficient power to meet
demand, and the land required, solar thermal is not a viable alternative.
7.2.4 Photovoltaics
The estimated production cost per kilowatt hour for the proposed Krasnodar GRES
is approximately 160 rubles; the cost of producing power photovoltaicly has been
estimated to be between 1,250 and 1,750 rubles per kilowatt hour in the year
2000. A photovoltaic facility, including battery storage, capable of producing 900
MW would require approximately 19,400 hectares of land.''' Thus, given this
technology's cost and land requirements it is not a viable alternative.
7.2.5 Biomass Energy
There is currently some biomass energy production in the North Caucasus region;
however, since agricultural wastes are used, this power is only available
seasonally. A sustainable more reliable source of biomass energy is trees, and in
order to develop this technology fuelwood plantations would have to be
established in close proximity to the power plant due to transport economics.
Fuelwood plantations generally take upwards of ten years to establish and
develop, prior to the first meaningful harvest. Generally, biomass energy is used
for commercial power production in rural areas with small power demands since a
900 MW biomass energy facility would require approximately 1,440,000 hectares
of arable land for the fuelwood plantation.''' Thus biomass energy is not a viable
alternative.
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