SOCHI, September 25. /TASS/. The Russian Ministry of Energy will expand the state assistance program for renewable energy sources for small hydropower power plants (HPPs), increasing the total sum provided for their support by 30 bln rubles ($311.55 mln) from 2030 to 2035. This will enable the commissioning of up to 82 MW of small hydropower plants per year, according to Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Snikkars.
He clarified that the Ministry of Energy idia has already been prepared and is being authorized by the administration.
"We proposed increasing the total amount allocated to support small hydroelectric power plants within the framework of the renewable energy supply agreement by 30 bln rubles for the period 2030-2035, which will allow the commissioning of up to 82 MW of small hydroelectric power stations per year," he said. He noted that thus far, hydropower investors have showed little interest in this program. As a result, no applications were submitted for the final selection.
From March 22 to April 7, a competitive selection of renewable energy generation projects was held. Based on its findings, 41 projects with a total capacity of 1.825 GW were chosen, but no applications for the building of small hydropower plants were received.