Russia

Introduction

In the 1930s, which country was the first in the world to start constructing utility-scale wind turbines? What country installed as many as 7,000 small hydro generating systems in the six years following World War 2? And, in 2000, which country’s forests covered 22% of the earth’s surface? Denmark, the United States, Brazil? No, the unexpected, but correct, answer to these three questions is Russia. Russia has enormous renewable energy resource potential, but current use of renewable energy is quite low. The reasons for this are quite understandable and have primarily to do with Russia’s experience during the 20th Century...more>>(page 2)

Wind Resources

Wind resources are available over large parts of Russia, including the coastal areas of the Pacific and Arctic oceans and of the Caspian, Baltic, Azov and Black Seas, and the high plains and mountain regions. About 37% of wind resources are found in the populated European part of Russia, and 63% in Siberia and Far East. Most of the country's wind potential is located in the territories, where population density is less then 1 person per km2. Here, wind energy can be exploited, as it has been successfully done in Mongolia, to service small isolated consumers. The challenge of bringing this energy to more populated areas is greater but still feasible in regions where extremely favourable wind conditions coincide with existing power infrastructure in the form of conventional electrical power stations and large scale industrial consumers. These regions include Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Chukotka, the seashore of Magadan region, Northern Caucasus steppes and mountains, and Kola Peninsula...more>>(page 6)

50MW offshore wind farm in Kaliningrad

In 2001, Danish-Russian cooperation began with the purpose of developing a 50 MW offshore wind farm on the Eastern Coast of the Baltic Sea. The purpose of the offshore wind farm is to increase the electricity supply to the Kaliningrad energy system while at the same time reducing the CO2 emissions from the power production. The project will include detailed investigations of potential sites, evaluation of the relevant industrial capacity in the region, the economy of the offshore wind farm in the local conditions, investment schemes and environmental studies...more>>

The estimated potential wind production of 709.8173 GW * 8760 hours, and taking the standard 30% would therefore cover 8 times the energy needs of Russia.

Energy Conversion:

References and Additional Information about Wind Resources in Russia:

Wind Energy in Russia: Wind Energy Resources in Russia
RTCC: http://www.rtcc.org/html/articles/con-proj-man/ramboll.htm
Nationmaster: http://www.nationmaster.com/country/rs/Energy
Energy Breakdown Chart of Russia: Energy Chart
Energy Grid Map of Russia

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