Opinions & Interviews
Opinion: Belarus will not have electricity oversupply with BelNPP commissioning
MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) - There will be no oversupply of electricity after the Belarusian nuclear power plant is commissioned, Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich said in an interview to Belarus 1 TV channel on 8 November, BelTA has learned.
“There is no electric energy storage. It is an inseparable process: to produce exactly as much as it is needed,” Viktor Karankevich said. In his words, with the commissioning of the BelNPP, “the potential for electricity production will increase. The government has approved a set of measures to increase electricity consumption in the real sector of economy. By the end of 2025 or in 2026, after the implementation of all these projects, the volume of electricity consumption will increase by 2.7 billion kWh.
The minister said that a project is underway to build electric boilers with the total installed capacity of 916 MW. “All these electric boilers will be installed before the end of the year,” Viktor Karankevich said, adding that the heat produced would be primarily used for heating large settlements. “It is planned to use about 1.7 billion kWh of electric energy for these purposes. That is 10% of all electrical energy produced by the nuclear power plant,” he added.
Certain incentives have been created for the development of electric motor industry. The development of electric charging infrastructure is in full swing. “By the end of 2020 we will have 400 electric charging stations across the country. More than 600 electric charging stations will be installed by the end of 2021. Last year electric vehicles in Belarus consumed 2 million kWh. In 2020 a significant increase in electricity consumption is projected, up to 12 million kWh,” said Viktor Karankevich.
He stressed that the nuclear power plant is built for the needs of Belarus; electric energy will be consumed inside the country first of all. “The Belarusian energy system is ready to supply electricity outside the country at competitive prices, if such a need arises,” the minister said.
Speaking about the cost of electricity, taking into account the commissioning of the BelNPP, the minister said that “before the commissioning of the first and second power units it has already been decided to establish incentive tariffs for both the population and the real economy”. According to him, there are already specific examples. Multi-apartment residential buildings have been built where electric energy is used for heating and hot water supply. Moreover, many people, who live in individual houses, have expressed their wish to switch to electricity. Only in 2019 the number of such appeals reached 17,000. A total of 11,000 of them have been satisfied. In January-August 2020, 16,000 such appeals were received, with 12,400 satisfied.
Viktor Karankevich added that the first power unit should be put into operation in Q1 2021, the second unit - in May 2022.
Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said in an interview to STV channel that the Russian state corporation is ready to participate in the construction of the second nuclear power plant in Belarus, if the appropriate decision is made. In this case, he said, it will be possible to reduce the construction period and optimize the cost.
print version
make home page
add to bookmarks
