Billion rouble plans for Russian tidal power plant
Russia’s biggest hydro-power generator Rushydro is considering a four billion RUB investment in a tidal power plant in Murmansk Oblast, on the coast of the Barents Sea. The project plans could make the Kola Peninsula a leading Russian region on alternative energy.
Rushydro now confirms that it is about to complete a feasibility study of the project and that the construction of the plant could eventually start next year, Murman.ru reports. The plant project is named the Northern Tidal Power Plant, and is to be built in the the Dolgaya-Vostochnaya Bay west of the Murmansk city.
The construction of the plant, which will have a capacity of 12 MWh, is expected to take three years.
Company representatives say to regional television that the plant is meant to operate as an experimental plant. It could, however, later be chosen as the model for a grand development of tidal power in Russia.
The new tidal power plant will not be the first in the energy-rich Kola Peninsula. Already in 1968, an experimental tidal plant was built in the Kislaya Bay, 90 km west of Murmansk. As BarentsObserver reported, a new generator built by the Sevmash plant outside Arkhangelsk was placed in the bay few years ago.
The new power plant will help further develop alternative energy generation in Murmansk Oblast. From before, several companies are planning major wind power farms in the region.
Murmansk Oblast is today a net generator of power. About fifty percent of regional generation come from hydropower plants, while the remaining is produced primarily by the Kola Nuclear Power Plant.
RusHydro is Russia’s biggest hydro-generating company and the second biggest in the world in terms of installed capacity. The company is also leading within the development of renewable energy sources, developing power generation using water flows, tidal, wind and geothermal energy. As of 1 January, 2009, the company’s installed capacity amounted to 25,336.6 MW, the company website informs.
