"Russia will remain small on alternative energy"

Russia has 12 percent of global oil reserves, 35 percent of gas reserves and 16 percent of coal reserves. And it is available to the Russian industry at prices way below the level in the EU. Russian companies buy gas for prices six times lower than its neighbors, coal – three times lower and electricity – two times lower. This is the reason for the traditional Russian squander [of energy] and the neglect of new alternative energy technologies, Vedomosti writes in an editorial. “Why develop wind, solar and other expensive sources of energy when we have so much oil under our feet?” the newspaper asks. The current capacity of Russian alternative energy production (about 15 MWh) is a “joke” and the ambition to generate 15 million kWh of wind energy by 2020, as laid down in the newly adopted Russian Energy Strategy, is unrealistic, the editorial argues.