The Russian Energy Week International Forum business programme continued today, on October 4, with a round table discussion on titled ‘Modernization of Thermal Power Generation in Russia: Successful Implementation and Improvements’.
The moderator was the leading industry expert Maksim Bystrov, Chairman of the Board, NP Market Council.
Industry experts took part in the session including: Yuriy Manevich, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Pavel Zavalny, Chairman of the Committee on Energy, The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; President, Russian Gas Society, Alexandra Panina, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Council of Power Producers, Andrey Vagner, Chairman of the Board, General Director, T Plus, Stephan Solzhenitsyn,Director General, Siberian Generating Company and others.
“We are discussing the current programme to modernize thermal generation with all market participants – energy producers, consumers and the executive authorities. We need to perform strategic planning while maintaining the energy mix of thermal energy. The Russian Ministry of Energy supports the development of renewable energy sources, but at the same time we understand that in the energy mix we are represented mainly by traditional sources of energy. The modernization programme should primarily be focused on the consumer, so when drawing up the energy strategy for thermal power generation we need to adopt a customer-orientated approach,” the country's deputy energy minister stressed.
At the same time, according to the Alexandra Panina, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Council of Power Producers, the programme to modernize thermal generation in Russia is generally effective and enables financial assistance to be provided to industry participants who clearly need support to modernize their energy facilities, while programme participants are selected in the face of fierce competition.
This year, the first tenders to modernize heat-generating equipment were held with delivery dates from 2022 to 2025. 14 GW of equipment will be upgraded, requiring investments of about RUB 200 billion.