Renewable Energy Policy and the Rehabilitation of Small Scale Hydropower Plants

"Renewable Energy Policy and the Rehabilitation of Small Scale Hydropower Plants” is a TACIS (Technical Assistance for the Commonwealth of Independent States) project funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the consortium ICF International—COWI Consulting (Denmark)—IGPEEE (Institute of Global Problems, Energy Efficiency and Ecology, Russia). The project has originated within the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue and its objective is to assist Russian Federal Government and regional administrations in the development of legal and regulatory framework encouraging the use of renewable energy in Russia.

Being highly endowed with oil, gas and coal and traditionally having a highly centralized and conservative energy supply system, the Russian Federation has never had a strong incentive to develop alternative energy sources. This is especially true for so-called “renewable” energy consisting of hydro-, wind-, biomass-, geothermal- and solar energy.

However, Russia has significant renewable energy potential, estimated at 2,3х106 million tons of coal equivalent annually. While the economic potential today is only a fraction of this, evaluated by experts at about 270 million ton coal equivalent, Russia still has extensive resources of almost all types of renewable energy—solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, biomass. Today, only a very small part of this potential is used with renewable energy in the energy balance of Russia accounting for a mere 1 percent.

The objective of this project is to push the development of the renewable energy potential in the Russian Federation on its way to a sustainable future.

The Project covers the period from 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2009 and will focus on both federal and regional levels.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of ICF International and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

This project is funded by the European Union