Karelian leader outlines radical energy shift
In his New Year’s address to the region, Head of the Republic of Karelia Andrei Nelidov outlined a radical turn in the region’s energy policy.
In three years, alternative energy sources like peat, waste wood and forest residue are to form the backbone of the region’s energy consumption, Nelidov told the population of about 700,000 in an address posted on the regional administration’s website.
Self-sufficiency of the alternative energy sources will replace the region’s current major imports of coal and fuel oil, on which the region spends “huge money”, the regional leader stressed. It will also give a major environmental bonus, he added.
It will take three years time to prepare the peat fields and get the necessary technology in place, Nedlidov maintained. Finnish technology will be applied in the process.
In general, neighboring Finland is a key to the modernization of Karelia. Finland itself possesses major peat resources and has developed several peat-fuelled power stations, among them the Toppila station in Oulo. No wonder, therefore, that Nelidov in his speech underlined that “this is the European approach, already well tested by our neighbors [which] … will guarantee European comfort and reliability”.
The republican leader also confirmed that as much as 15 billion RUB will be invested in the reconstruction of 63 small-scale hydro power stations in the region.
Nelidov, who was appointed regional leader in July 2010, is under major pressure to transform the regional economy. The regional budget is heavily dependent on tax revenues from a few big industrial companies, and first of all the Kostomuksha ore processing plant. Alternative industry needs to be developed, among them small businesses, tourism, fisheries and mining, he said.
Afterall, the governor himself admits, “we don’t earn even half of what we spend”.
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