Peretok Light: highlights of the Russian and global power sectors for 10 to 16 December

Kozhemyako expects DFO [Far-Eastern Federal Okrug (District) (FEFD)] energy suppliers to relocate to the district’s new capital

Last Sunday Primorye saw the end of one of the most controversial state governor election campaigns: Oleg Kozhemyako has been elected the new head of the territory. In the election run-up, Mr Kozhemyako made several surprise statements regarding, among other things, energy. E.g., 17 October, the then gubernatorial candidate said that Primorye would not introduce a household electricity quota, which for the time being is only being debated within the government. In the last week before the election rerun, Oleg Kozhemyako said that he expected the offices of energy and utility providers operating in the Far East to be moved to Vladivostok.

RusHydro schedules the start of Sakhalin GRES-2 and CHPP in Sovetskaya Gavan for 2019

The industry’s biggest player in the Far East is government-owned RusHydro, incorporated in Krasnoyarsk, headquartered in Moscow and operating through its “local” subsidiary and associate companies. Having filed their quarterly financial statements last week, the management of the water power generator admitted that it would not be able to bring GRES-2 in Sakhalin on stream this year — its start has been pushed back to 2019. Earlier the Accounts Chamber warned of the risks of failure to complete Sakhalin GRES-2 and CHPP in Sovgavan on schedule.

TPE to look for gas turbines for Taman TES [thermal power station (TPS)] in secondary market

Centre stage last week was taken by one more engineering project: the Udarnaya TPS in the Taman peninsula, to be built by Tekhnoproexport (TPE, Rostekh’s affiliate). The government company won notoriety after last year’s scandal over the supply of Siemens turbines to the Crimea for the Taman project. Having been hit by the western sanctions, TPE is looking to the secondary market to acquire gas turbines unavailable in Russia.

Huadian-Tenino CHPP loses co-owner

Among the possible sellers of gas turbines for Udarnaya is TGK-2, which is sitting on a 160-MW gas turbine unit. Now the new owners of the generator are trying to sort out the company’s financial situation. 11 December TGK-2 surprised the market by announcing its plans to exit the joint project with China’s Huadian, the Huadian-Tenino CHPP in Yaroslavl. TGK-2’s interest in the JV pledged as collateral for the loan used to build the CHPP to the same Chinese company.

RES generators set up their own association, ARVE [Association for the Promotion of Renewable Energy (APRE)]

Vedomosti’s themed conference “Future of Renewable Energy in Russia”, which took place 12 December, triggered a surge of interest in RES. During the event, the alternativists announced the formation of their own Association for the Promotion of Renewable Energy, with Anatoly Chubais, head of Rosnano, fingered to run the lobbying operation of Rosnano, Vestas, Hevel, Solar Systems and Vershina Development.

EnMin to extend support for RES beyond 2024

The first step of the new association will be “the preparation of a consolidated position and the conceptualization of a mechanism for RES support in the RF beyond 2024 and the drafting of statutes and regulations to this effect”. Aleksey Teksler, “new” ad hoc deputy head of Minenergo, cautiously backed the idea of extending the RES support programme, but made it clear that no final decisions would be forthcoming in the near future. Earlier spokespeople for key regulators stated that the decision to support green generators at the expense of consumers must be taken this year in order to “insert” the expenses into the financial burden on wholesale energy buyers.

Market Council proposes breaking new RES support programme into two stages

The only piece of news of substance about the prospects for continued support for RES this week is the statement from the Market Council, which suggests using a more flexible approach and breaking the programme into two stages, with funding adjusted as network parity is achieved.

SO: To integrate RES into the South Grid requires sorting out standardization issues

At the same Vedomosti conference, a spokesman for System Operator reminded again about the upcoming man-made problems of the South Grid: the first green generation support programme (RES EAC) provides for RES capacity to be mostly developed in favourable climates. “The solarization maximization drive” is likely to box in SES [solar power station (SPS)] because it is impossible to reserve a large quantity of alternative generation.

EnMin very hopeful of TPS modernization programme adoption this year

Having shelved a decision on RES, EnMin, which had a modernization programme for national heat generation on the drawing board, has now joined the ranks of energy market participants eagerly awaiting a green light from the government. Project financing (up to 1.4 trln roubles in investments) will claim the bulk of the funds to be made available to energy market consumers as the TPS EAC programme is nearing completion. Market Council has already made the required amendments to the documents: modernisation projects are expected to be selected by March; CA for 2022 will have taken place by 1 May.

Market Council officially reschedules 2022 CA from 15 December to 1 May

17-12-2018 12:05