SoWiTec Russia back to world map

At 17,075,400 km² Russia is by far the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of the Earth’s land area. Russia is also the ninth most populous nation with 142 million people. The economic crisis that struck all post-Soviet countries in the 1990s was intense but since the turn of the century, rising oil prices, increased foreign investment, higher domestic consumption and greater political stability have bolstered economic growth in Russia, the GDP is estimated at 5.6% for 2008. Russia holds the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves and is also the world's largest exporter of natural gas, the second largest oil exporter and the third largest energy consumer. The country has an installed nuclear capacity of 21.2 million kilowatts, distributed across 31 operational nuclear reactors at 10 locations. However, Russia’s nuclear power facilities are aging. Due to the well-developed hydroelectricity production in the country, Russia is the 5th largest renewable energy producer. Roughly 63% of the electricity is generated by thermal plants, 21% by hydropower and 16% comes from nuclear reactors. In December 1994, the Energy Strategy of Russia was approved by the government. It defines the main priorities as an increase in energy efficiency, reducing impact on the environment, sustainable development, energy development and technological development, as well as an improvement of effectiveness and competitiveness. Renewable energy in Russia is largely undeveloped although there is considerable potential for renewable energy use: Russia has high quality wind resources on the Pacific and Arctic coasts and in vast steppe and mountain areas. At the end of 2006, total installed wind capacity was 15 MW. The move away from coal and natural gas will take several years, but the potential is there for another energy revolution in Russia, it will be wind power and in particular hydropower that will be the dominant renewable sources. SoWiTec Russia is currently planning more than 5,500 MW of wind power projects, this pipeline will be further enlarged in the future.