MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. The exit of foreign businesses from the small hydropower market opens opportunities for Russian investors, Project Manager at Rusatom Service (Rosatom's structure) Andrey Chernykh told the Arctic Project Development Office's meeting.
"In 2022, we analyzed all RES (renewable energy sources), as the task we faced was to develop non-nuclear energy, and our conclusion is that small hydropower has very many advantages to access the market, namely in 2022-2023," he told the Project Office's discussion club meeting. "We can see that Western players have left the market, and private investors have been on hold for some time. Rosatom, represented by Rusatom Service, has certain opportunities to develop this topic, to stir it up somehow."
The Arctic regions have a big hydropower potential, he added.
According to the company's representative, the state-run corporation's investments in this sphere must be 'refundable.' "We presently can see two mechanisms - they are the "green-tariff" support in the retail sector or a special-tariff incentive in isolated energy hubs. Another story is direct dual agreements (supplies of electric power and capacity - TASS)," he said.
Russian equipment
The INSET Company develops, produces and supplies equipment for the small hydropower. Over 30 years, the company has produced about 80 turbines for small hydropower plants (up to 5,000 kW) and more than 250 for micro hydropower plants (3-100 kW), where only about 20 have been installed in Russia, while others have been exported, the company's Director General Yakov Blyashko said. "To date, Russian specialists have developed a standard-size range of equipment for small hydropower in Russia, and we do not have any restrictions to manufacture this equipment. Starting from a head of 2.5 meters (height) and ending with a head of 450 meters, and the capacity from 10 liters to 10 cubic meters per second. All this equipment is manufactured in Russia. It has been developed industrially, and has been installed at power plants in Russia. As for abroad, this equipment has been installed in more than 20 countries. We have everything to develop the small hydropower sector. We need the political will," he added.
Freezing rivers hinder mini power plants
RusHydro's representative Maxim Markov pointed to problems of using small hydropower plants in the Arctic. "Presently, it is the sun (the solar energy - TASS) that demonstrates the highest effectiveness. <…> Whenever we are building a container mini hydropower plant in the Far North, in the Arctic, it will be working for 5-6 months a year, and when the river freezes up we will have to use other generation sources - either diesel or other RES," he said.
In the Arctic, where rivers are freezing up, it would be reasonable to build micro and mini hydropower plants combined with diesel plants, INSET's representative said. "Both products must be supplied to the site fully fabricated, that is inside containers and fully equipped with automatic systems," he said.
National Agency on Energy Saving and Renewable Energy Sources' Director General Nikolay Safronov spoke about the experience of other Northern countries, which use mini hydropower plants. Such stations, for example, in Alaska (the US), in Norway, make about 95% of the hydroelectric power production. "Iceland has upgraded its economy by using small hydropower plants," he added.
ESG rating
The development of small hydropower in the Arctic contributes to higher ESG ratings of companies, operating such plants, and of the regions where they are used, the Arctic Project Development Office's Deputy Director General, Associate Professor at the Public Administration and Public Policy Department of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (RANEPA) Alexander Vorotnikov said.
ESG parameters, which business uses in sustainable development strategies, are: the environment issues (E), the social sphere (S), and corporate governance standards (G).
"We have been speaking a lot about the ESG transformation," the expert said. "These approaches have been supported by the (Russian) president, by the RSPP (Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs). The use in the Arctic, in the North, of mini hydroelectric power plants boosts greatly the ESG ratings of the regions and the companies, using mini hydroelectric power plants."
Such projects offer new jobs in the Far North, and mini hydroelectric power plants favor the preservation of the Arctic nature, he added, stressing Asian countries nowadays have very tough sustainability requirements for companies interested in their markets.
The USSR had the experience of using mini hydroelectric power plants, he continued. According to him, the development of the Kolmozerskoye deposit of lithium in the Murmansk Region, implemented by a company, which the Norilsk Nickel Company and Rosatom have organized, is a solution to use lithium, produced at the deposit, to make accumulators, including those used in the hydropower.
The Arctic Project Development Office reports Russia has 2,500 small rivers, and the annual potential of the small hydropower sector in the country is estimated at 60 billion kW, where not more than 1% has been used so far. The small rivers' watershed takes about 50% of the entire river watershed. Along small rivers live up to 44% of the urban population and 90% of the rural population.