Eastern, European parts of Russian energy system to be unified - Putin
RUSSKY ISLAND, Vladivostok. Sept 7 (Interfax) - Russia will develop electricity generation in the eastern portion of the country while simultaneously working to unify it with the European part, President Vladimir Putin said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Summit.
"In developing energy in the Far East, we will join its infrastructure with that of the European part so that it will be easier for us to transfer the necessary flows of raw material and electricity from one part to another and to enter the markets both of European countries and the Asia-Pacific Region," he said in response to participants' questions.
Putin added that "the energy systems in Russia - both European and eastern - just like with the railway network, have never been interconnected."
The solution to this problem "is in the very near future," he said.
Because of constraints in inter-system flows, Russian power is divided into two zones - the European part and the Urals, and Siberia. Even then, the energy systems of Siberia and the Far East are practically separate, as a result of which Far Eastern electricity is isolated from the rest of the country. In case of necessity, shortages in energy zones are covered with power flows through border states. This happened in 2009, when an electricity shortage in Siberia caused by the disaster at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydro-Electric Power Plant was compensated for by flows from the European part through Kazakhstan's system.
There are plans to boost gas, oil and mineral resource production in the east of Russia. "I flew to APEC from Yamal, which has 55 trillion cubic meters of [gas] reserves. Those are simply gigantic reserves. Reserves in East Siberia and Sakhalin are also enormous. Sakhalin gas is only the first step," Putin said. He added that it is also important to monitor the environment during industrial development.