POWER January 2013 - 46

POWER IN RUSSIA
erating companies and territorial generation
companies is to modernize their existing
power plants and build new ones using advanced
technologies.
Hydropower. Russia harbors 9% of the
world's freshwater resources, and as a result,
an immense hydropower potential. Yet, as the
government acknowledges, only 20% of this
potential is currently utilized, by 102 hydropower
facilities, each of more than 100 MW,
and one pumped storage plant (Figure 4).
The largest of the country's 46-GW hydropower
fleet was for a long time the SayanoShushenskaya
power plant in Khakassia, but
that plant suffered a devastating explosion in
August 2009 that killed 75 people and put
several units out of service (Figure 5). (See
" Investigating the Sayano-Shushenskaya
Hydro Power Plant Disaster, " in the December
2010 issue of POWER, available in the
archives at www.powermag.com.)
The federation continues to hold a 60%
stake in RusHydro, owner of 35.3 GW of
generation capacity and the country's largest
hydropower firm, which evolved as a generating
company after dissolution of the UES
in 2008. With strong government backing,
several initiatives are under way to develop
the potential of rivers of the North Caucasus,
in the Volga regions, and in Siberia.
Nuclear Power. The country's nuclear sector
is wholly controlled by Rosenergoatom, a
subsidiary of state corporation Rosatom. That
firm operates 32 reactors in 10 nuclear power
plants with a total capacity of 23.2 GW. These
comprise six early VVER design pressurized
water reactors, 11 current-generation VVERs,
and 13 light water graphite reactors. Between
the 1986 Chernobyl accident and the mid1990s,
only one nuclear power station was
commissioned in Russia (the four-unit Balakovo
plant). Further development was restrained
by an acute shortage of funds after
the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Work is currently
under way on 10 other reactors as well
as on projects to increase the load factors at
existing plants by 4.5 GW. Rosatom's international
arm, Atomstroyexport, meanwhile, has
three reactor construction projects abroad, all
involving VVER-1000 units.
Recognizing the strategic and economic
significance of nuclear power, Russia last November
reaffirmed priorities to modernize and
expand its nuclear fleet and announced plans to
invest $1.3 billion annually in nuclear research
and development by 2020 (a 10-fold increase
from figures proposed in 2007). Specific goals
include demonstration of a " full range " of fastreactor
technology by 2020, first by installing
the pilot BREST-300 lead-cooled fast reactor at
the Siberian Chemical Combine at Seversk in
the Tomsk region as a forerunner to a series of
1,200-MW versions planned nationally.
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Rosatom's long-term strategy envisions
nuclear power making up a 45% to 50%
share of the nation's total power profile by
2050, and up to 80% by the end of the century.
The plan, which calls for 43.4 GW of
new nuclear capacity, involves moving to
advanced fast reactors with a closed nuclear
cycle and mixed-oxide fuel (see " Russia's
Nuclear Mission, " August 2010).
Alternative Energy. Renewables make
up a minuscule portion of Russia's power
profile, their development hindered by a
lack of renewable energy subsidies, concerns
over the transparency of the tendering
process, and the level of market liberalization.
Yet, the country's energy strategy calls
for a program from 2022 to 2030 that will
be marked by an expansion of nuclear, hydropower,
wind, and other renewables. The
plan declares that by the end of the forecast
period, renewables should account for 14%
of the country's demand.
The Grid. Russia's national grid is referred
to as the " Unified National Electric Grid in
Russia " because it consists of seven regional
power systems: North West, Central, Middle
2. Russia's power profile. Russia's current
220 GW of installed capacity is mostly composed
of thermal plants, about 60% of which is
fired by natural gas and 40% by coal. Source:
Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy
Nuclear
11%
Hydro 21%
Thermal 68%
3. Behemoth gas. With a total generating capacity of 5,600 MW, Surgut-2, near Surgut in
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug is one of the largest natural gas thermal power plants in Europe.
It is also the largest Russian power station operated by energy supplier E.ON Russia, which is
majority-owned by E.ON. Startup of Unit 3 was planned for October 2012. The Surgut-2 station continuously
provides Western Siberia and Ural with power and heat. Emerson Process Management is
the main automation contractor for Unit 3 of the Surgut-2 power station. Courtesy: Emerson
4. Water storage. RusHydro's 1,200MW
Zagorsk Pumped Storage Station-
Russia's only pumped storage plant-near
Sergiev Posad, was approved in 1974 and
became operational in 2000. Zagorsk-2,
with a future installed capacity of 840 MW,
is currently being constructed next to it.
Courtesy: RusHydro
5. In the aftermath. The catastrophe at
the 6,400-MW Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric
plant that killed 75 workers in southern
Siberia on Aug. 17, 2009, had a number
of contributing causes, including design, operational,
and repair weaknesses. Reconstruction
of the plant is under way and is expected
to be completed in full by 2014. Courtesy:
Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil
Defense, Emergencies, and Elimination of
Consequences of Natural Disasters
POWER | January 2013

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POWER January 2013

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