Energy Ministry suggest removing unneeded grid infrastructure
MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax) - The Russian Energy Ministry plans to conduct an inventory of power equipment in order to identify and remove from turnover existing but unneeded grid capacity.
"We think that the pertinent standards and legal acts should be worked up in this connection, which would allow us on certain terms, not the obligatory removal, but in some way to put existing capacity into business circulation, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said during a government presidium meeting on Thursday.
Such an analysis, he said, is needed mainly for major cities. Moscow, for example, requires 16-17 gWt of capacity, but "free capacity, evaluations show, exists up to a thousand mWt," he said.
"This is a substantial amount," and putting such capacity into use would provide "primarily a good opportunity for small and medium-sized business to in the next year or two" to achieve connection," Shmatko said.
This is not the first time the idea of launching a so-called secondary capacity market has been raised. Existing grid facilities are not being used to full capacity, which could be a result of a drop in actual consumer demand relative to projects for a number of reasons, as well as the order for capacity with a large reserve due to its low cost. Grid organizations to not have legal grounds for using free capacity for connecting new consumers, and instead the building of new grid capacity is building into investment programs, which is more expensive than redistributing already existing capacity.