Russian investment in renewable energy may exceed 1.3 trillion rubles - industry association

MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) - Investment in Russia's renewable energy sector will exceed 1.3 trillion rubles by 2035, Director of the Association for the Development of Renewable Energy Alexei Zhikharev said at a press conference.

"We estimate that this amount will exceed 1.3 trillion rubles by the end of 2035," he said.

"The total volume of investment since 2013 (over the past 10 years) has exceeded 650 billion rubles in the sector. We see this as quite a good figure," he said.

However, there has been a certain slowdown in the construction of facilities, he said. "Over the past three years, the commissioning volume has been in the range of 300 MW to 400 MW. It cannot be said that these are small numbers," he said. The year 2021 saw a peak in commissioning of 1.2 GW, which has not yet been matched.

"However, in the period from 2025 to 2029, we expect construction rates to increase. Companies continue to adapt successfully to new conditions; they have developed new supply chains and are adjusting to current macroeconomic indicators quite successfully," Zhikharev said.

"We need to build about another 6.2 GW according to the current plans," System Operator CEO Fyodor Opadchy said. "We also consider it economically justified to build another 1.7 GW in the Far East," he said.

Currently, total renewable energy capacity is approximately 6.23 GW. This figure could grow to 6.5 GW by the end of the year, with 280 MW of solar generation set to be commissioned, Zhikharev said.