Rosatom's floating power units could potentially be used for all major mining projects along the Northern Sea Route

ST. PETERSBURG. June 15 (Interfax) - Rosatom is studying the use of an energy fleet based on floating power units (FPU) on projects along the Northern Sea Route, Vladimir Panov, special Rosatom representative for the development of the Arctic, deputy head of the state commission for the Arctic, told Interfax on the sidelines of SPIEF-2023.

Rosatom is creating Russia's first energy fleet, which will operate on the principle of a "nuclear battery" that can be moved, or more precisely, in our case, transported. We could ship these power units to points along the Northern Sea Route," he said.

Earlier, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, at one of the SPIEF sessions on the development of the Northern Sea Route, said that the corporation sees demand for at least 15 floating power units along the route.

"Rosatom has a vision as to where these solutions can be applied, since we understand where industrial clusters and mineral resource centers will develop, or in which region a shortage of electricity could be possible. A concept has been prepared for the development of the energy fleet both in the Arctic and in the Far East, and we assume that our proposal for the use of Floating Power Units will help solve the problem of energy shortages in various projects and regions of the country," Panov said.

In the Arctic, the potential use of modernized floating power units is being studied for virtually all major hydrocarbons projects, including those planned, implemented and under construction.

"The first Arctic energy project is already underway for the Baimsky GOK. The projects for energy supply via modernized floating power units for Gazprom's Tambey cluster fields are being developed to a high degree. We are also discussing with the government of the Khabarovsk Territory the implementation of the first stage of construction of a power fleet with a capacity of 0.5 MW. Other potential customers are at different stages of discussion on the issue," the source said.

As for the energy supply of the regions, in the Far East, the potential for providing an energy supply to the Khabarovsk Territory with a capacity of 520 MW starting in 2028 is being studied, and in the Chukotka Autonomous District, it's 106 MW starting in 2031. At the moment, 318 MW capacities are already being built for the Baimsky GOK in Chukotka, the launch of which is expected in 2029, Panov said.