Not just in Europe anymore: wind turbines and solar panels account for 25% of energy consumption in the Orenburg region

The capacity of green power generation in the region is sufficient to supply two districts and several major cities with electricity for a year without interruption.

Renewable energy sources (RES) have generated 438.4 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in the Orenburg Region. This is enough to cover 25% of the Orenburg Region’s population’s energy consumption, the regional government said.

Dmitry Kulakov, acting regional Minister for Industry and Energy, told journalists that the total capacity of the region’s solar plants and wind turbines is 372.7 megawatts, of which 370 megawatts is solar power.

Last year, RES installations in the Orenburg Region produced 438.4 million kilowatt-hours. This is enough to supply electricity to the population of the cities of Novotroitsk, Orsk, Buzuluk and Buguruslan, as well as to all residents of Buzuluk and Buguruslan districts of the Orenburg region, the regional authorities said.

According to Orenburgstat, the total population of Orsk, Novotroitsk, Buzuluk and Buguruslan, as well as Buguruslan and Buzuluk districts is over 493,000 people, or a quarter of the region’s total population.

According to the regional Ministry of Industry and Energy, the share of “green” generation in the total volume of electricity production in the Orenburg region is about 3.7%. At the same time, the indicators have been growing every year for the last five years.

Dmitry Kulakov noted that the Orenburg Region is a leader among Russia’s regions in terms of solar generation.

According to TASS, several investors are working to create wind farms in the Orenburg Region. One of them has already been offered sites to build wind turbines.

We should note that about 20% of electricity produced in Russia is renewable. The total electricity generation by RES-based power plants in 2020 was about 210 billion kilowatt-hours, of which more than 98% was from hydroelectric power plants. All other RES generated about 4 billion kilowatt-hours, which is about 0.4% of Russia’s electricity generation.

Meanwhile, the economic potential of the country’s renewable sources is quite large, estimated at 270 million tonnes of fuel equivalent per year.

Of these, 115 million tonnes of fuel equivalent per year are geothermal, 65.2 million are small hydro, 35 million are biomass, 12.5 million are solar, 10 million are wind and 36 million are low-grade heat.

It should be recalled that the introduction of renewable energy sources is the most important factor in counteracting climate change. Experts recognise that it is impossible to stop global warming without widespread deployment of renewables.

Cover photo: Richard Vogel / AP