Germany’s Siemens could introduce a Smart Grid in Russia’s Bashkortostan region
Danish company examines potential for solar panel use in Moscow
Russia’s Arctic areas to get new wind/wave hybrid power generators
Russia will build small hydro power plants in Kazakhstan
Russia will back Bulgaria’s NPP plans.
Germany’s Siemens could introduce a Smart Grid in Russia’s Bashkortostan region
Siemens is ready to launch a trial Smart Grid deployment project in Bashkortostan, one of Russia’s regions near the Urals mountains. The idea was voiced at a business meeting of representatives of Siemens from Germany and officials from subsidiaries of Bashkirenergo, the Bashkortostan energy Co.
The German giant has a long history of equipment supplies to Bashkortostan. For instance, a heat energy plant in Ufa, the regional capital city, is equipped with Siemens-made gas-vapor hardware.
Experts estimate that modernization of the region’s energy system will require power transformers, breakers, and other grid equipment.
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Danish company examines potential for solar panel use in Moscow
Danfoss – a Danish-based production company specializing in energy-efficient and climate-friendly solutions for selected industries – introduced a small-scale solar panel generator at its Moscow headquarters.
The 1.8 kilowatt solar-power unit is reported to be used for testing the efficiency of this technology in Moscow’s weather, as well as serving as an acting demo model of alternative energy production.
The solar generator is mounted on aluminium stands, elevating it above ground level, and faces South. It comprises 15 amorphous solar panels and a 1.8 kilowatt one-phase solar inverter.
Solar insolation and temperature are monitored by special detectors, while the parameters of the station itself are subject to remote monitoring via internet.
Primary analysis of the solar mini-station’s performance showed an output of some 350 to 400 watts.
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Russia’s Arctic areas to get new wind/wave power generator stations
Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade is examining the possibility of using oceanic waves and sea breeze to generate electric power in the northernmost areas, on the Arctic Ocean shores.
In 2012, research for a hybrid wave energy converter (WEC) and wind power generator for the North of Russia is reported to begin.
Shipping conventional fuel to the vast territories behind the Arctic Circle is traditionally expensive. Regular power lines are often not an option, for reasons of cost and/or accessibility.
The new project is meant to help reduce the volume of goods delivered by sea for the residents of the Arctic areas.
The test prototype station is planned to be operational by 2014 and is estimated to cost some 200 rubles (some US$6.2 million).
The required parameters of the generator should have it operate in minus 50 C temperatures and withstand 1-meter thick ice.
Due to the seas freezing over in the cold climate, local seaports and sea transport lines are only navigable a short part of the year.
Summertime supplies deliveries to the North of Russia – dubbed ‘Northern Shipments’ since Soviet times – is routinely a complicated, dangerous enterprise, with high dependence of weather conditions and a very limited navigation period both on sea and major inland rivers. Goods delivered through Northern Shipments are barely sufficient to last the extended winter season and traditionally more expensive than in mainland areas of Russia.
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Russia will build small hydro power plants in Kazakhstan
RusHydro, one of Russia’s largest power generating companies, signed an agreement with Kazakhmys PLC, Kazakhstan’s copper mining giant, to set up a joint venture to build small-scale hydro power generation units in Kazakhstan.
An unspecified number of small hydro power stations, to be erected at various sites along Kazakhstan’s smaller rivers, will have a total capacity of up to 300 megawatts.
The technology is expected to come from RusHydro.
Signatories’ shares in the financing of the projected joint enterprise are to be established by a further agreement.
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Russia to back Bulgaria’s NPP plans
Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear power plant corporation, is all set to support the planned construction of a seventh nuclear power reactor in Bulgaria.
Bulgarian officials have addressed Rosatom with a proposal to build one more reactor at Kozloduy, the country’s only NPP, said Kirill Komarov, deputy director general of Rosatom.
Even though Bulgaria scrapped plans to build an NPP at Belene, our cooperation will continue,” Komarov said, speaking to the media at a nuclear industry event in Moscow.
According to Rayno Dachev of Bulgaria’s Risk Engineering, the cost of another reactor at Kozloduy, in Northern Bulgaria, equals the cost of a full-scale NPP project at Belene, Moscow-based Golos Rossii radio reports.
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