Within the framework of the existing legislation, development of distributed generation is gaining new impetus. Small-scale nuclear power, which occupies a special place in Russia's energy development strategy, opens up significant prospects. Technological and infrastructural development in this area is needed in order to overcome grid constraints preventing large-scale implementation of distributed generation. Strategic measures aimed at developing small-scale nuclear power and distributed generation create conditions for growth and ensure Russia's energy security. This was the conclusion reached at the session “Distributed Generation and Russia's Energy Security in the New Reality” at Russian Energy Week 2024 (REW).
KEY CONCLUSIONS
Distributed generation should be developed
within the framework of the current legislation
“Approximately 20 gigawatts of capacity operate on the
retail market. These 20 gigawatts are structured as follows: 5.5 gigawatts of
generation facilities with an installed capacity from five to 25 megawatts;
about seven gigawatts of the retail market is taken up by generation facilities
with an installed capacity of more than 20 megawatts, operating on the retail
market without permits, which runs counter to the existing legislation, and
another six megawatts, respectively, likewise. Over 25 megawatts are operating
with the requisite authorization documentation,” Valery Seleznev, First Deputy Chairman of the
Committee on Energy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian
Federation.
Legislative changes require a comprehensive
impact assessment
“It might happen that the effect of the proposed changes for the wholesale market will be 17 billion roubles a year, while the negative effect will be 40 billion more, or even 57 billion. This is because the cost of switching from retail to wholesale, something they insist on, will necessitate modernization of the generation facilities themselves and amendment of the schemes for power delivery. When a facility is built that does not enter the retail market, there is a line stating that technical connection does not imply output of power to the general grid,” Valery Seleznev, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Energy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
PROBLEMS
Initiatives limit development of
distributed energy and result in underpayments
“Operating without the necessary authorization documents leads to non-payment of 7.5 billion roubles – surcharges of the electricity and capacity market that are redistributed to wholesale market consumers, as well as pensioners. Around 15 billion roubles a year remain unpaid for electricity transmission services, all this creating a stumbling block. Regulators don't like it,” Valery Seleznev, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Energy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
SOLUTIONS
“When we look at the energy sector, less
than 50% of our energy-rich territory, you are looking at a component of this
part. But we need to consider another component, where nuclear power was one of
the leading areas for us. It should be completely different, of a different
market and so on. This is a very promising trend,” Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector
of St. Petersburg Mining University.
Expanding the power unit capacity threshold
and setting up an inter-committee working association
“We see how prices are changing on the wholesale market; we see that companies are becoming more and more motivated to switch to their own generation. 2024 has, however, seen an alternative proposal. One of the biggest consumer associations of industrial parks in Russia has proposed, on the contrary, that the capacity threshold for self-generation units be raised to 50 MW, with plants below this threshold not required to enter the electricity and capacity market,” Valery Seleznev, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Energy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
* This is a translation of material that was originally generated in Russian using artificial intelligence.
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