Belarus Outlines Hydro and Wind Power Projects

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Belarus has outlined plans to build four hydropower plants and windfarms with a combined electricity generation capacity of more than 400 megawatts (MW), starting next year.

In the Belarus government's energy strategy for 2011 to 2015, two 63-MW hydropower plants will be built on the Western Dvina River at Polotsk and Vitebsk. New hydropower plants at Grodno and Neman, with a combined capacity of 37 MW will be constructed on the Neman River.

The former Russian republic has outlined plans to build up to 300 MW of windfarms by 2015. The government has highlighted 1,840 potential sites throughout the country that have a combined potential generation capacity of more than 1,600 MW. Today, Belarus has wind power generation capacity of only 1.2 MW. A 160-MW windfarm is currently planned for the Dzerzhinsk district.

This week, Belarus agreed to create a joint venture company with Russia that will sell electricity generated by the first Belarusian nuclear power plant, which is planned for a site in Ostrovetskaya, in the Grodno region. Russian energy giant AtomStroyExport (Moscow, Russia) is expected to build the nuclear power plant, which will have a generating capacity of 2,400 MW, but relations between the countries are strained due to disagreements about the amount of capital that Russia will invest in the project. Belarus has asked Russia for loan of $9 billion to construct the project. The first 1,200-MW unit is expected to be in place by 2016, and the second unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018. Belarus currently imports much of its electricity from the Ignalina nuclear plant in Lithuania and the Smolensk nuclear plant in Russia.

Last month, Belarus announced plans to spend almost $46 billion on its energy industry from 2011 to 2020. Up to $19 billion will be used to upgrade the country's energy system. More than $9 billion will go toward the new nuclear power plant and a further $16.9 billion will go toward energy conservation, including the updating of older heating plants into combined heating and power (CHP) plants and the increased use of local fuels.

The Belarusian government has just signed a deal with China, which has agreed to help fund 34 power generation facilities, including a 65-MW CHP plant in Brest, seven hydropower plants and the construction of 400-MW steam turbines at the Bereza and Lukoml power plants. Money will also be invested in new power lines and substations.

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