Russian electricity exports to China expected to be level with last year in 2014
MOSCOW. Sept 30 (Interfax) - Russian electricity exports to China in 2014 are expected to be level with 2013, Inter RAO UES management board member Karina Tsurkan told journalists.
Exports to China fell in 2014 due to planned high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) line repairs, Tsurkan, who is also the head of Inter RAO's trading block, said.
"We are hoping we'll restore volumes close to last year. The task is to restore volumes exactly equal to the amount that is necessary," she said, adding that this concerned maintaining the economic efficiency of exports.
China is one of the largest markets for Russian electricity. As reported, Eastern Energy Company, a wholly owned Inter RAO subsidiary, saw electricity exports to China fall 11.5% year-on-year in the first half of 2014 to 1.67 billion kilowatt hours (kWh). In 2013, electricity exports to China were up 32.8% at 3.49 billion kWh.
A long-term contract for electricity exports from Russia to China was signed with the State Energy Corporation of China in February 2012. It stipulated the exports of at least 100 billion kWh of electricity to China's Heilongjiang Province over 25 years.