The North - West region district is one of the most significant forest regions of Russia. About 60% of forest of the European part of the country is concentrated there or 17% of annual allowable cut of the country. The forestry and pulp and paper sectors are one of the most significant industries in North - West Russia. In 2010 the region produced 61% of pulp and paper, 37% of plywood, about 33% of industrial roundwood and 28% of sawn timber
(Gerasimov, 2009). The reserves of wood fuel in the form of waste from wood processing are very significant. According to estimates by various industry experts, waste is about 26-48%.
Not more than 48% of waste is used and processed (USDA, 2019). The forest industry has significant potential both as a consumer of biofuels and as a supplier of biomass for energy companies and municipal utilities. Figure 4 also, shows us a distribution of various types of biomass in the Northwest federal districts.
Figure 4 Distribution of various biomass types in the regions of Russia, Russian Energy Agency, 2012
This would be enough to meet almost at 75 percent the heat and electricity needs of the forest industry (Holodkov, 2010). It was also noted in many industry publications that the
conversion of the timber industry complex to its own sources of heat and electricity is a significant factor in improving efficiency. The share of fossil fuels consumed by wood processing plants still accounts for 30% of total fuel consumption. Own energy is cheaper the purchased at 1,5 - 2 times in the Russian forest industry condition. In places where there is no centralized energy supply, own energy can be 4-5 times cheaper than purchased (Sukhanov,
2010). At the same time, industry sources say that it is important to introduce state programs and partly compensate for the cost of pellet boilers. Today, except from the municipal level, there are no state-supported programmes to convert old boilers to wood pellet boilers. There are several regions in Russia that support local solid fuel producers, Republic of Komi and Arkhangelsk region еtс. For example, in the Republic of Komi, the local authorities subsidize local energy heating companies, which purchase fuel briquettes from local producers. Also, individual consumers receive compensation for purchasing boilers. However, these regions account for only 8-9 percent of Russia's total population, and the use of renewable solid fuels is insignificant compared to the potential total use of renewable solid waste available in Russia (USDA, 2019).
The development of the forest bioenergy sector in Russia started in the early 2000s, as the country's economic situation improved and demand for green energy rapidly increased around the world. Production of wood pellets attracted attention in Northwest Russia and later in other regions with a large number of forest resources and developed forestry industry. High availability of forest resources, comparatively well-developed logistics infrastructure and closeness to the EU have allowed Northwest Russia to become a leader in the wood pellet business (Rakitova, 2013). The Northwest is the leader in terms of the number of mills. The Figure 5 shows us the current situation and forecast to the future (Rakitova, personal
communication).
Figure 5 Russian pellet production and growth rate in 2009-2024
Domestic consumption of wood pellets increased from around 5% in 2007 to 10-15% in 2012 (Rakitova, 2013). According to experts, the situation changed not much and the bioenergy development in the forest regions of the Northwest is taking place from below. The region is a pioneer in the production of pellets. In the early 2000s, all the production is mainly oriented to export to EU. Producers want to become energy efficient by using wood waste to meet their own energy needs. But the statistical data about this numbers are not publicly available.
Fossil fuels predominate in energy consumption in the Northwest region, where overall consumption can be classified as follows: natural gas - 44%, oil - 19%, coal - 16%, nuclear energy - 18%, renewable energy - 2% . Regional differences exist, for example in the
Republic of Karelia and the Pskov region, where the share of renewable energy is higher but still below 10% (Sukhanov, 2013). The high cost of imported energy and development of the solid wood energy production stimulates the Northwest Russia regions to initiate regional forest bioenergy programmes. In addition, the immediate need to renovate and modernize the central heating system is further stimulating the development of bioenergy in North - West Russia. The old heat supply infrastructure has reached extreme levels: 65-70% of district heating fixed assets are outdated, 80% of boiler houses are over 30 years old and 20% are over 50 years old (Russian Government. Decree N1715-r).
More practical development on the regional level came in 2009 when the government of the Russia approved a decree on the main directions of state policy in the area of increasing the energy efficiency of electrical energy based on the use of renewable energy sources until 2020 (Decree N1-p, January, 2009). Decree are including the recommendation to local authorities to follow the principles of the decree in the preparation of local development programs in the sphere of energy efficiency by renewable sources. As result, there are the regional bioenergy development programs until 2020 was adopted. I will analyse them and list it below by region in the result chapter.