Partner, Power Sector Practice
VYGON Consulting Director of Power Practice Alexey Zhikharev moderated "Prospects for Retail and Macro-generation on the Basis of RES" session as part of "The Future of Renewable Energy in Russia" conference program. The event, which gathers major players of the RES market and leading industry experts, is held for the fourth time by Vedomosti daily business newspaper.
In his opening remarks, Alexey Zhikharev stated that the year 2017 has become, to a certain extent, a landmark for Russian renewable energy sector. Due to the lifting of key regulatory barriers that constrained the development of renewable energy on Russian wholesale market, the appetite of investors at the competitive selection has exceeded the required level by several times. Foreign companies Fortum and Enel entered the sector with strong project portfolios. Thus, we can conclude that the incentive mechanism for renewable energy on the wholesale electricity market is now running at full capacity.
At the same time, VYGON Consulting Director of Power Practice highlighted the substantial lag of RES segment on retail markets. A lot of work remains to be done in this direction, primarily at the level of regulatory bodies of the Russian Federation constituent entities. However, today a number of companies are actively considering investment opportunities and are planning the implementation of small hydropower projects, as well as wind, solar, landfill and biogas generating facilities.
Deputy Governor of the Murmansk region Yevgeny Nikora, General Director of Vireo Energy in Russia Alexey Yuschuk, General Director of Solar Systems Mikhail Molchanov and Managing Partner of Bright Capital Mikhail Chuchkevich took part in the discussion of current problems of retail generation sector and attitudes of administrations of Russian regions to the mechanisms for supporting RES.
Panelists concluded that a transparent regulatory framework, approved at the level of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, is required in order to attract greater investment in such projects. Experts also noted the gaps in the federal methodology for setting RES-generation tariffs. By the end of the discussion, it was concluded that regional development corporations, that have the capabilities to support investment projects at all stages of their implementation, should be involved in this sector more actively.