Bioenergy development in the Northwest region of the Russian Federation

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Faculty of Science and Forestry

BIOENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTHWEST REGION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Anastasia Livitchuk

MASTER’S THESIS FORESTRY (CBU)

JOENSUU 2020

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Federation. University of Eastern Finland. Faculty of Science and Forestry. Master’s thesis in Forestry (CBU), 40 pp.

ABSTRACT

Climate change and energy security are crucial issues on the sustainable development agenda in recent years. In the Nordic area countries are developing policies to increase the share of renewable energy in their economies. The Northwest of Russia is strongly inter-connected concerning forest products with the Nordic countries, and it could be expected a parallel development of renewable energy, particularly concerning bioenergy.

The situation has been different, due to the local development of the energy mix: with large fossil fuel reserves, Russia was an exception before the adoption of the energy strategy.

However, in recent years, for the first time, the Energy Strategy of Russia until 2035 defines targets to produce electricity and heat from renewable sources. As a result of national and regional policy, Northwest Russia was involved in solid bioenergy production, domestic use, and exports to border countries, mainly to Nordic countries, for two decades. The present thesis focuses on these developments and to what extent policies in Northwest Russia and foreign involvement can explain the growth of bioenergy in Russia. For that, an extensive review of policy documents have been compiled, particularly covering Northwest Russia. In addition, data concerning the current amount of biomass for energy were collected and

compared to the amounts in the Nordic area around the Russian Federation. The main sources of data included literature review and analysis of publicly available data on the renewable energy use to measure biomass use for each sub-region of the Northwest Russia, and original documents were compiled and translated. The results offer a clear development of the policy, and reveal the under-used amount of forest resources, particularly for bioenergy, in the region, which has been addressed in the latest policy developments. Northwest Russia reached only 3% of bioenergy in the regional energy balance; however, the area has a great potential for energy wood resources in terms of non-industrial roundwood, unused branches, defective wood from logging, lifted spruce stumps, and co-products from mechanical wood processing.

Based on actual harvests and mechanical wood processing in 2006, it is estimated a total of 30.9 Mm³. It is still difficult to assess more accurately the results of the bioenergy

development in the Northwest Russia, as the official reports to be presented by the end of

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the field of energy planning.

Keywords: bioenergy, energy policy, energy security, biomass potentials

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FOREWORD

The background of my research work is connected to an intensive course on biomass

production at the Saint Petersburg State Forest Technical University (Russia), where Dr Blas Mola compared the development of bioenergy at both sides of the border; that give me an idea to study more in depth the bioenergy development in Northwest Russia. Since I work for a forest certification company, I had access to information concerning the needs in Russian markets for wood fuel certification. Currently my company is planning to get the new program of the SBP certification (Sustainable Biomass Program) and I was familiar with the forest biomass market in the Russian northwest. It was interesting for me to also understand the problem of RES development in North - West Russia.

I would like to thank Dr Blas Mola for the opportunity to be free to choose and develop this topic. This is very important for me as I wanted to do something valuable for my real work in the company. I would also like to thank Olga Rakitova (executive director, National

Bioenergy Union) and Vladimir Sendetsky (UNIDO national expert on bioenergy) for their assistance in providing information on RES in Russia.

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The global energy problem is the need to meet the growing needs of humanity for energy resources. Global energy consumption is predicted to double by 2030. The World Energy Council (WEC), as an approach to solving this problem, proposed the concept of "The Energy Trilemma", which is to find a balance between aspirations for energy security, cost

availability of energy supply and environmental sustainability (Cherp, 2016). The concept is particularly focused on energy security. In this concept, energy security refers to the effective organization of the primary energy delivery from national and foreign sources, the safety of energy infrastructure and the ability of energy providers to satisfy current and future demand.

The importance of the energy security was clearly highlighted during the energy crises of the 1970s. Since that period, most countries have started to develop national policies to achieve energy independence. Nowadays, the transformation of the world energy market can be characterized as a movement towards regionalization of energy markets from the world energy market. Untraditional hydrocarbons (bitumen, matrix oil, biogas, gas hydrates, etc.) are more evenly distributed on the planet than traditional hydrocarbons. Thus, energy confrontation shifts to new technologies for raw materials extraction and processing. Also, small distributed generation is growing rapidly, especially in developing countries (Fujimori, 2016). The share of RES, also growing rapidly in the installed capacity of the world's electric power industry reached 34.7% in 2019 (IRENA, 2019).

In the global economy of the developing and developed countries, energy is discussed at the governmental level, at the level of NGOs, research institutes and private individuals. The environmental pollution associated with energy production most widely discussed due the global warming and sustainability. Currently, one of the most common answers to this question is the use of RES potential. However, it may be very difficult for countries rich in natural resources to recognize the benefits of introducing RES technologies, as traditional methods of energy production (such as fossil fuels and nuclear power) are more cost-effective and more familiar, as the entire infrastructure for their use exists and has been under control for many years. An example of such a model country is the Russian Federation. Russia on the international energy market is both a producer and a consumer of significant amounts of energy resources. The country has more than 12% of the discovered world oil reserves, 35%

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of the world gas reserves, 16% of the coal reserves and 14% of the world's uranium reserves (IEA, 2018).

The energy sector of Russia is the key sector for the national economy: on the one hand, the production of electricity and heat is supported by carbon resources for almost 90% of country’s energy consumption, on the other hand, the energy sector contributes a substantial revenue share of the national budget (about 40-60% according to various estimates) and most of the foreign currency revenues (Loktionov, 2014).

Overall total primary energy supplies (TPES)¹ in 2012 in Russia amounted to 747.4 million tons of crude oil equivalent (Mtoe) (Figure 1). The share of natural gas, oil and coal account for more than 91% of TPES (natural gas 51.8%, oil 21.8% and coal 17.3%), with nuclear at 6.2%, hydro at 1.9%, biofuels and waste less than 1%, and geothermal at 0.1% (IEA, 2018).

In 2016, Russian accounted for 5% of global TPES and the fourth ranked in the global scale.

Figure 1 Total primary energy supply in the Russian Federation for the period 1990-2012.

The structure of energy supply in Russia differs nationwide. About two thirds of the fossil fuels come from Eastern Siberia, from where they are then transported to other parts of Russia, which is thus very dependent on Siberia for energy (Gerasimov et al, 2009). The current energy system of Russia is dependent on the use of fossil fuels and hardly takes into

1 TPES is made of indigenous production + imports – exports – international marine bunkers – international aviation bunkers ± stock changes

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account the efficient use of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass.

As the volume of the biomass is not more than 0.5 % (Minenergo, 2018).

1.2 Power sector structure

The electric power industry in Russia is faced with difficulties since the 1980's, when the first signs of stagnation began to appear: renovation of production facilities did not follow the growth of electricity consumption. Later on, the general economic crisis of the 1990's came on top of it, as a result of which the volume of electricity consumption was significantly reduced, and the process of capacity upgrade has almost stopped.

The general situation in the industry was characterized by the following indicators:

- In terms of technological indicators, Russian energy companies fell behind their analogues in the developed countries;

- there was no stimulation of efficiency improvement, efficient planning of electricity production and consumption modes and power saving;

- some regions had power failures, there was an energy crisis;

- there was no payment discipline;

- companies in the industry were information and financial nontransparent;

- market access was withdrawn for the new independent players.

In 1992, the power system of Russia was substituted by a monopoly that was vertically integrated. This became the framework for the first reform of the electricity sector. Russian Joint Stock Company UES of Russia (RAO UES of Russia) is the monopolist in the Russian power generation and transmission market. The company, almost the whole of Russia's

energy industry unites. However, this structure led to the fact that the market structure worked inefficiently in terms of production, dispatch and renovation schedules. These outputs

provided the basis for the second power reform, which was carried out over the past decade. It was replaced by state-owned natural monopoly companies, as well as privatized generating and sales companies. The main purpose of this reform was to improve the efficiency of the electricity sector. Transition period completed in 2011 (REmap, 2017).

The reform had significant impacts on the structure and functioning of the electricity sector and consisted of several components. The former monopoly was dissolved, and fossil fuel power plants privatised by private Russian companies and foreign investors (Fortum etc.), but nuclear and hydropower production is still state-owned.

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Nowadays there is a scheme of operations of the electric power industry in Russia, which includes the following main segments: generation, transmission and distribution, sales of electric power and its direct consumption. Generating companies include thermal power plant (TPP), nuclear power plant (NPP), hydro power plant (HPP) and renewable energy sources (RES). They are in a competitive segment and are represented by state (NPP, HPP)

companies, Russian private companies, and foreign private companies, Fortum, ENEL Russia etc. (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Structure of production and installed capacity by types of Power plants, Russian Ministry of Energy, 2017

Transmission and distribution are a regulated segment. The major part of the market is occupied by the group of Russian network companies PJSC "Rosseti". Sales companies are a competitive and regulated segment. They are independent energy sales companies and guarantee suppliers. Energy consumers are industrial companies, infrastructure projects and the population. Electricity losses in the grids accounted for about 10% of the total electricity consumption (EY, 2018).

The heat and power industry coexists with the electric power industry, as most power plants produce heat in addition to electricity. Currently, about 80% of the heat is generated by heat

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supply systems that ensure its transfer in the form of hot water from a central boiler plant or cogeneration through a network of pipelines. Tariffs for heat energy are set by the regional energy commissions. Heat network degradation leads to high heat losses: in Russia they reach 20-30%, which is almost four times higher than in European countries (EY, 2018).

The tariff for the end consumer for electricity and capacity is formed on the base of five components: the price of electricity (the price of buying electricity at the wholesale market or from a retail generator); the price of electricity (the price of buying electricity by an electricity sales company at the wholesale market or from a retail generator); the price of transmission over the grid with voltage differentiation; infrastructure payments (the amount of the payment is regulated by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia and the non-governmental

association "Market Council"); and the sales extra charge. According to independent experts, the share of electricity, whose price is determined by the free market, is estimated at only 40%.

Russia has reformed its electricity market by organizing it on a free market basis. The Federal Law N. 35-FZ of 26 March 2003 on the Electric Power Industry is the legal basis governing the liberalized electricity sector. Creation of a competitive wholesale electricity and capacity market is one of the key issues of the power sector reform in Russia. Russian power and heat industry continue to develop electricity consumption grows, the installed capacity of

generating companies is gradually increased and updated, and their profitability is increased.

At the same time, there is a reduction in investment in the industry. Investment development is limited by the preservation of non-market pricing mechanisms. According to experts, a new pricing model is expected to be created in the near future, as well as government incentives for RES.

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1.3 Decentralized energy supply

Around one third of the territory of Russia connected to the centralized power supply systems (REA, 2015). At least about 20 million people are not connected to the national grid (Popel, 2015). The map below shows the centralized energy supply in green, autonomous energy supply in yellow and non-energy regions (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Centralized and autonomous energy supply in Russia

The majority of the population of these areas live in settlements located away from each other in the northern regions, in Siberia or the Far East. The energy problems there are usually resolved by diesel and gasoline plants, domestic fuels (e.g. firewood) and connection to the local electricity grid, mostly using imported fuel. They receive fuel by rail or road, and in some cases by helicopter (Berdin, 2017). The cost of energy production in these isolated communities is so high, and the delivery of fuel there is so difficult it is "one step" to the profitability of RES (Popel, 2015).

It is essential that Russia is the biggest country in the world with very harsh winters, which have a big impact on energy consumption. The population and infrastructure in the European part of the country is more dense than in Eastern Siberia. Economy also industrialized in this part. Centralised district heating and the provision of electricity, gas and diesel fuel play a vital economic and social role in this regard. This creates particular policy challenges:

developing markets, infrastructure and generating facilities that can cover remote areas as far as possible. Among the measures implemented by the government in these regions are direct

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subsidies to reduce tariffs for the population, modernization of generation using imported fuel and replacing it with generation using renewable energy sources. These projects are being implemented on a small scale, there is no general trend in the regions yet, although during the last years the number of mechanisms were adopted at the federal level to support them. I will try to describe the complex and gradual process of implementing RES technologies in chapter 2 of my Master’s thesis.

1.4 Objectives

In the Russian context the definition of renewable energy sources (RES) is solar energy, wind energy, water energy (including waste water energy), except when such energy is used at hydrostorage power plants, inflow energy, wave energy of water objects, including water reservoirs, rivers, seas, oceans, geothermal energy using natural underground heat carriers, low-potential heat energy of land, air and water using special heat carriers, biomass, which includes specially grown plants for energy production, including trees, as well as production and consumption waste, except for waste from the use of hydrocarbons and fuels, biogas, gas from production and consumption waste in landfills of such waste, gas from coal mining.

Amendments to Federal Law No. 35-FZ "On Electric Power Industry", adopted in 2007, for the first time define RES in Russian legislation. The present thesis will focus on the analysis of the use of RES in the Northwest Russia. The main idea is to highlight the first results of implementation of the state policy 2009 to support renewable energy at local levels, namely in the Northwest region of Russia. In addition, the assessment of resources is a central element of any policy, thus the potential of wood energy biomass will be evaluated and presented in the form of a map for all seven regions of Northwest Russia.

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The idea of the research is to present a chronological policy framework in the bioenergy sector of Russia. To narrow the scope of the study, bioenergy produced only from forests is considered. Energy crops will not be studied. In terms of the geographical scope first, the overall bioenergy development policy situation in Russia will be described and then the situation in the North - West region of the Russian will be evaluated (the open regional reports are analysed by the government energy policy until 2020). Thus, the qualitative descriptive research method will be used. The main emphasis is on analysis of secondary data from the official governmental sources, research institutions and mass media (newspapers and industry journals). Throughout the research the comparison of the obtained data will be carried out.

For the estimation of the annual energy wood fuel potential of Northwest it was analyzed the accessibility of wood co-products from roundwood harvesting and mechanical wood

processing which together as the biomass potentials. The availability of biomass for energy from roundwood harvesting was defined from the logging sites of companies and from harvest sites. Data on harvesting of round wood was obtained from the annual unpublished statistics given by the Federal Forestry Agency of the Russia and statistics from logging companies. All energy wood from the harvesting of roundwood was defined as the amount of wood in cubic meters over bark (o.b). The potential of the energy biomass from mechanical wood processing was defined by calculating the availability of the co-products of sawmills and plywood mills. Data for mechanical wood processing came from the annual statistics of the State Statistical Committe of the regions and Russian roundwood standards (Karjalainen, etc, 2009). Regional statistics were collected from Gerasimov and Karjalainen (2009). The data collected was then mapped by regions, covering the Nordic area for comparison. Data in the Nordic area was extracted from Mola-Yudego et al (2017), including Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and regionalized at NUTS-2 level. The maps used in the presentation were based on public domain (Natural Earth, 2020; see Kelson and Patterson, 2010).

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3.1 Chronological policy framework for bioenergy sector in the Russia

Russia has industrial experience in bioenergy production from biomass. In 1913, the world’s first peat-fired thermal power plant was installed in the Moscow region (Kopenkina, 2013). At the end of the 60s, the world’s first industrial production of gaseous and liquid biofuels from biomass (biohydrogen, biomethane, biobutanol, bio acetone and bioethanol) was established in the USSR before the famous energy crisis of 1972-1974. In the middle of the 70’s the difficult ecological situation formed around large poultry and cattle farm complexes because of daily formed thousands of tons of manure and excrement. Ground waters were poised around each such enterprise. That is way in the country rich in oil, gas and coal from this moment on the development of technical bioenergy began to emphasize the state importance.

Domestic technical bioenergy started to be considered as an independent branch of large energy only after the decision took in autumn 1979 by the country’s top leader. Between 1980 and 1989, large bioenergy-biogas plants were put into operation in the USSR (Panzhava, 2008). Research and applied work in the field of bioenergy in Russia has 3 period (Panzhava, 1996):

I. The ‘20s and ‘30s until 1941 II. The early ‘50s and mid ‘60s

III. The early ‘80s until the collapse of the USSR

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the development of the bioenergy sector was not a priority for the country, whereas privatization has occurred, including the privatization of oil and gas companies (MPRA, 2017).

During the development of the “new Russian economy”, the first mention of renewable energy sources was made in 1994. Later the “concept of development of small and alternative energy in the energy balance of Russia” was developed by the Ministry of Energy and for the first time idenfied “green energy” in the “non-conventional version”. Available fuels were assessed for the first time and assessments were provided for all renewable energy sources (Pristupa, 2015). The first draft of the law "On state policy in the field of use of non- conventional renewable energy sources" was rejected in 1999 (Federal law adopted by

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parliament (state duma) 27.10.1999, adopted by federation council 11.11.1999, turned down by president 25.11.99. N Pr-1544). Later, the original draft law was very modified. Among the support measures, it only mentioned the obligation of the government to allocate at least 3% of public investment in the fuel and energy complex to the development of renewable energy. The rest of the references to support measures in the draft law were, unfortunately, just declarative measures. Thus, the renewable energy was included in the Federal programme for "Energy Efficient Economy 2002-2005 and to the period up to 2010". They also included:

"Renewable energy sources in the Northern territories", "South of Russia for 2002-2006",

"Economic and social development of the Far East and Transbaikalia for 1996-2005 and up to 2010", but they did not implement due to lack of financing (Shkraduk, 2010). The final failure of the legislation in this period was the law "On energy saving" in 1996. For the first time, the law was provided the possibility to produce electricity based on renewable energy sources and to connect companies that generate electricity to the electricity grid. However, since the mechanism of this possibility was not clearly described, these possibilities were not used in practice(Federal Law 03.04.1996 г. N 28-FL "On energy saving", replaced by the Federal Law 23.11.2009 № 261-FL) (Bezrukih, 2014).

Regarding national energy strategies, the Energy Strategy of Russia 2003 regularly considered long-term energy development until 2020, but it mentioned peat and firewood as the most perspective local renewable energy sources and lacking an integrated and innovative approach to renewable energy sources. Obviously, stimulating and developing the renewable energy sector was not a priority for the country in the 90s and early 2000s, while oil and gas companies were privatized (Pristupa, 2010). It must be noted that RES was no longer neglected, but after the mid-2000s efforts to introduce and implement a renewable energy strategy stagnated.

In summary, we can say that for understandable economic reasons there was no interest in RES long after the collapse of the USSR: renewable energy was too expensive, and the country was faced with much more acute problems than the development of clean technologies. The creation of a modern legislative framework that would stimulate the development of renewable energy in Russia was seriously discussed only in the late 2000s.

Nowadays, The Ministry of Energy of the Russia develops the state policy in the sphere of RES and its implementation. Also, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russia is involved in the regulation of the industry - in terms of localization indicators control - the share of equipment for RES generation produced in Russia - and the Ministry of Economic Development (in terms of assessing the impact of RES support on the economic situation, for

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example, on electricity tariffs) (Barinova, 2016). Also, should be mentioned the signing of the Energy Strategy of Russia for the period until 2035 in 2009. The most significant is that there is no direct action aspect to Russian strategies, but they provide guidelines and set priorities for further development. It is expected that every five years appropriate changes will be made to cover new trends, technologies and challenges in the economy and energy complex. The last version is signed by June 2020.

Federal Law No. 35-FZ "On Electricity Industry" of 26.03.2003 is fundamental in the electric power industry of Russia. Initially, the law did not contain any provisions on RES.

Amendments were adopted at the end of 2007, first defining RES and types, and other

important provisions. In Russian context the definition of the renewable energy sources (RES) is solar energy, wind energy, water energy (including waste water energy), except when such energy is used at hydrostorage power plants, inflow energy, wave energy of water objects, including water reservoirs, rivers, seas, oceans, geothermal energy using natural underground heat carriers, low-potential heat energy of land, air and water using special heat carriers, biomass, which includes specially grown plants for energy production, including trees, as well as production and consumption waste, except for waste from the use of hydrocarbons and fuels, biogas, gas from production and consumption waste in landfills of such waste, gas from coal mining. They fixed the approval by the government of public policy guidelines, the selection of an incentive mechanism and support for RES, and the establishment of rules for the qualification of RES power plants. In total, 45 amendments have been made to the Federal Law so far.

All this amendment, which was aimed at creating a financial instrument to support companies producing "green" energy and other regulations were seriously delayed (Bezrukikh, 2012).

Constant changes in internal government structures and responsible authorities in public institutions, including the Ministry of Energy, have contributed to extremely slow and weak political processes in this area (Mol, 2009).

More practical development began in 2009 when the government of the Russian approved the Federal Law N 261 “On energy saving and increasing energy efficiency” and the government decree N 1r of the “Main directions for the state policy on energy efficiency of the electricity sector on the basis of renewable energy sources until 2020”.

The targets of decree for electricity generation from the renewable energy sources - 1.5% and 2.5% in 2010 and 2015 respectively, 4.5% in 2020 then the deadline was moved by 2024 (Last version of decree N 1-p, April 18, 2020). The 1.5% and 2.5% targets were not achieved (Belonna, 2018).

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In order to achieve 4.5%, 25 GW of capacity needs to be built. In 2013, the program to support RES under capacity delivery agreements (CDA) was started. It includes construction of only 5.5 GW of capacity of solar and wind power plants and small HPPs and another 445 MW of garbage power plants. The program also requires for localization of RES equipment production in Russia. The first green stations started to be commissioned in 2015, with a peak in 202 (951 MW), with an average of 548 MW to be commissioned annually for 10 years.

Discussions are under way to extend the CDA programme beyond 2024 (Vygon Consulting, 2019).

Another important event was the adoption of the government decree N 449 (About the mechanism of promoting the use of renewable energy sources at the wholesale electricity and capacity market) in 2013. It allowed to support RES on the wholesale electricity and capacity market through the payment for capacity that is transferred to the wholesale market

participants in addition to the proceeds from the sale of electricity. Not all RES can be supported on the wholesale market, but only solar power plants (SES), wind power plants (WES) and small hydroelectric power plants (SHPPs), with installed capacity ranging from 5 to 25 MW.

As result, for generating objects of bioenergy it is not quite profitable, because the current model of trade on the wholesale market does not take into account the specifics of such objects, which are often part of the technological process of production of the main products of enterprises. As a result, enterprises are forced to sell to the wholesale market all electricity generated at their generating facilities and then buy it back for the needs of their own

production, but at a higher price, which includes various surcharges of the wholesale market, services for electricity transmission and payment to infrastructure organizations.

Capacity fee is understandable for the Russian energy market - it is used not only to stimulate the construction of RES facilities, but also for the construction of all generating facilities. This mechanism is unusual for the other countries. At the time of its introduction in Russia, "green tariff" and quotas were the most common in the world (Belonna, 2018).

In 2015, the government adopted decree N 47 (About promotion of renewable energy sources on retail electricity markets, which created an opportunity to support RES on retail electricity markets), including isolated zones (not connected to the grid). In contrast to the wholesale market, the retail market supports power generation facilities using biomass, biogas and landfill gas, and the installed capacity of RES facilities on the retail market should be less than 25 MW. As a mechanism to support RES in retail markets, grid companies must buy energy at regulated tariffs.

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Localization requirements and target indicators of RES power plant capacity have been changed several times; in addition, they were extended until 2024. RES development in the retail market is limited by the tariff uncertainty: the tariff is set upon commissioning of the power plant. In general, Decrees N449 and N47 are the main state measures to support RES.

Some Russian regions have started to develop regional legislation to support RES.

Nowadays, The Ministry of Energy of the Russia develops the state policy in the sphere of RES and its implementation. Also, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russia is involved in the regulation of the industry - in terms of localization indicators control - the share of equipment for RES generation produced in Russia - and the Ministry of Economic Development, in terms of assessing the impact of RES support on the economic situation, for example, on electricity tariffs (Barinova, 2016).

In the next part of my work I will describe how the decree works in terms of

recommendations to local authorities to follow the principles of the decree when preparing local development programs in the field of energy efficiency based on renewable energy sources on the example of the North – West district of Russia.

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3.2 Political perspective on bioenergy in the regional level

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,

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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).

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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.

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3.3 Biomass potentials in the Northwest region

The Northwest region presents an equivalent level of biomass potentials for energy than the neighbour countries in the Baltic area across the border (Figure 6). Particularly, the regions of Arhangelsk and Vologda present a high amount of energy wood (9.98 mill. m³), which could match the amounts of Finland (9.2 mill. m³, Luke, 2017) or the Baltic countries (Karjalainen etc., 2009).

Figure 6. Estimates of wood biomass potential for energy by region in Northwest Russia compared to neighbor regions in Northern Europe.

The total growing stock in the Northwest Russia is assumed at 10 bln. m³, of which

approximately 6 bln. m³ is mature and over mature forests. The growing stock can be divided into following shares: 29% are pine, 42% spruce, 21% birch, 6% aspen, and 1% other species.

The annual allowable cut of 106.2 M m³ under bark (u.b) is estimated for the felling of mature

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stands, of this total 56.4 M m³ are coniferous and 49.8 M m³ are deciduous tree species (Rosleskhoz 2007). The actual harvest in 2006 of only 50 M m³ u.b was lower the allowable cut, of which only 40.2 M m³ was harvested in the felling of mature stands. Other actual harvests included 5.1 M m³ from thinnings and 7.7 M m³ from other fellings (e.g. for construction of roads and agriculture).

The forest area and growing stock in Northwest Russia is roughly four times bigger than in Finland, but the intensity of resource use is lower than in Finland. First of all, it depends on different wood harvesting methods, types of felling and management of wood species.

Domestic demand for deciduous trees in Russia is low, commercial use of wood is mainly based on coniferous. Thinnings are approximately 60% of the area harvested in Finland, in the Northwest Russia is represented only 12% of the total felled volume (Karvinen et al. 2006;

Peltola 2007). Also, should be mentioned in Russia conditions the current forestry management methods needs to collect the logging residues from a logging site after

harvesting (after any wood harvesting method, traditional whole tree method or cut-to-length harvesting method). These residues are often not used, and those small parts that are used are traditionally not used for energy production.

Thus, in Northwest Russia deciduous tree species, wood from thinnings, logging residues and residues from mechanical wood processing could be used in terms of forest biomass potential.

In our work, data for estimations (Karjalainen etc, 2009) performed as a map, which show us the wood biomass potential for the seven Northwest regions from the energy wood collected during harvesting and the amount of wood residues from mechanical wood processing. They represent: Arhangelsk region – 5.425 m^{3 (}1000 m³ over bark (o.b) per year, dark green on the map, figure 6), Vologda region – 4.559 m³, Leningrad region – 3.846 m³, Republic of Komi – 2.741 m³, Republic of Karelia – 2.342 m³, Novgorod region – 1.967 m³, Pskov region – 838 m³, Murmansk region – 41 m³(further on the map the regions are distributed by the intensity of green, Pskov and Murmansk regions are not highlighted).

However, regional differences in potential exist, as the intensity of use and availability of forest resources varies by region.

3.4 Current share of bioenergy in the North - West region

As result, there are the regional bioenergy development programs until 2020 were adopted.

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Pskov region

There is “Regional Program for Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency Improvement in Pskov Region for 2010-2015 with a Prospective until 2020” adopted in 2010.

The goal of the program is to generate energy based on RES: heat 4-6%, electricity 1-2%.

Fuel and energy sector: Currently, electricity and heat production in the Pskov region is 97%

dependent on external primary fuel and energy resources. Natural gas and oil products account for the major share of primary energy consumption structure: 63% and 27%, the rest of it is the coal.

Share of bioenergy in the regional fuel and energy balance – 1,9 %.

Vologda region

There is “Strategy for the development of the fuel and energy complex in the Vologda region for the period until 2020” adopted in 2010.

The goal is to increase biofuel production in the region and to transfer 20 coal-boiler houses to wood biofuels.

Fuel and energy sector: Primary energy resources in the region are 98% supplied from other Russian regions. Natural gas, which comes to the region from Western Siberia, has the largest share in the consumption of primary energy resources, followed by hard coal.

Share of bioenergy in the regional fuel and energy balance – less 2%.

Novgorod region

There is “Energy Strategy of the Novgorod Region for the Period until 2020” adopted in 2010.

The goal of the program is to generate energy based on RES: heat 30%, electricity 5%.

Fuel and energy sector: Natural gas dominates in the fuel and energy balance of the region, accounting for about 80% of total fuel consumption. The share of oil products is about 15 %.

Share of bioenergy in the regional fuel and energy balance – 5%.

Republic of Komi

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There is “Scheme and Programme of Electric Power Industry Development of the Komi Republic for 2011-2015” adopted in 2011. After “Road map of the bioenergy development in the Republic of Komi (2016-2018)” adopted in 2016.

The goal of the road map for bioenergy development is to increase the use of wood waste from sawmills and wood industries for efficient heat energy production. The document also contains a list of concrete activities to achieve the goal.

Fuel and energy sector: Natural gas dominates in the fuel and energy balance of the region and accounting for about 77%, oil products and coal share is about 6%.

Share of bioenergy in the regional fuel and energy balance – 17%.

Leningrad region

There is “Regional Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency Program of the Leningrad Region for 2010-2015 and the outlook to 2020” adopted in 2010.

The goal of the program is to generate energy based on RES: heat 9%, electricity 2%.

Fuel and energy sector: Natural gas dominates in the fuel and energy balance of the region and accounting for about 98%, the rest of it is a coal.

Republic of Karelia

There is “Regional Strategy fuel industry development in the Republic of Karelia based on local energy resources for 2011-2020” adopted in 2009.

The regional strategy contains a set of economic assessments and direct actions to the goal on energy independence of the region.

Fuel and energy sector: Natural gas in the fuel and energy balance of the region accounting for about 51%, oil products 24%, coal 13% imported resources, wood 11% and peat 1%.

Arkhangelsk region

There is "Energy saving and energy efficiency improvement in Arkhangelsk region for 2010- 2020" adopted in 2010.

The goal of the program is to increase the consumption of biofuel from 10 to 44%.

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Fuel and energy sector: Oil products account for 43 % of the imported resources, natural gas for 28 % and coal for 19 %.

Murmansk region

The energy potential of woody biomass use in the Murmansk region is small. The Murmansk region does not have a separate program to develop the use of biofuels, as well as local fuels.

Synthesis of the programmes

As result, I analysed the regional bioenergy development programs and make a short

summary table, figure 7. It is important to say that regional strategies have been developed by the regional authorities by order the Decree of the Russian government in accordance with Federal Law N261 (21.11.2009) and the decree on the main directions of state policy in increasing the energy efficiency of electrical energy based on the use of renewable energy sources until 2020 (Decree N1-p, January 2009). Materials of the strategies includes recommendation to regional authorities to follow the principles of the decree in the

preparation of local development programs in the sphere of energy efficiency by renewable sources. Since all the strategies were adopted in 2009-2010, the only mention of government support measures was the provision of subsidies to compensate part of the interest rate on investment loans to small and medium-sized enterprises on investment loans. At the local level, energy production based on RES is carried out by independent commercial

organizations.

The programmes contain the share of bioenergy in the public sector in 2009 and desirable goals of the programs by the regions until 2020. The energy potential of woody biomass use in the Murmansk region is small. The share of bioenergy in the region was only 1 %. The region does not have a separate program to develop the use of biofuels, as well as local fuels.

In Leningrad, Vologda and Pskov regions the shares of bioenergy were less than 2%. All regions strongly depend on imported fuels, mainly natural gas from 63% to 98% and coal up to 27%. Republic of Komi had highest share of bioenergy 17%, due to large wood production industries in the region. These entities have facilities for using own waste as energy source and have direct interest in promoting bioenergy use at regional level. Arkhangelsk region had the 10% of bioenergy share and have a goal to increase the consumption to 44%. Republic of

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Karelia had the 12% of bioenergy share and have a program with direct actions to achieve the goal, based on a good experience from the neighbours Finland’s regions. And Novgorod region had the 5% of bioenergy share and have only number of desirable goals without any steps of reaching the goals as well as Leningrad and Pskov region.

Unfortunately, the programmes do not contain concrete steps given by regional authorities for achieving these goals. Only which I mentioned above. Also, we have fragmented information about the progress of the regional programs. I was able to find the intermediate data on the achievement of the indicators and they are presented in Figure 6 in brackets (Think tank of the Russian government, 2015). The difficulty and unavailability of some very local data required for the study should also be noted and unavailable information about how many woodworking companies use biomass energy for their own needs. Many programmes also mentioned that statistics on the share of local resources were not previously recorded. Confirmation of this was found on regional sites and a commitment to start recording by fuel type from 2012.

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Figure 7. Fuel and energy balance analysis by regions of North - West Russia Year of

report

Share of bioenergy in public sector (%)

Wood- fuel power plant

The goal of the program Peat (agro- waste) thermal power plant

Regional Energy policy

The place in NW region

Forest cover area, %

Total wood stock, Mm3 2012 Northwest Russia 2010 2.9

Murmansk region 2015 1 3 - 4 -

(the investment

projects)

8 37.3 225.9

Arkhangelsk region

2010 (2018)

10 (42.8)

- 420

to increase the consumption of biofuel from 10 to 44%

- + 1 54.1 2604.5

Republic of

Karelia 2009

(2015) >2

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155 regional strategy contains a set of economic assessments and direct actions to the goal

4 + 2 52.7 943.1

Republic of Komi 2011 (2015)

17 (17)

- 136

to increase the use of wood waste from sawmills and wood industries for efficient heat energy production

- + 3 72.5 2830.4

Vologda region 2010 2013

>2 (2)

- 499

to increase biofuel production in the region and to transfer 20 coal-boiler houses

2 + 7 69,6 1644,0

Leningrad region 2010 (2014)

>2 (2,2)

- 35

heat 9%

electricity 2%

- + 6 57,3 786,1

Novgorod region 2010 5 83 heat 30%

electricity 5%

- + 5 64.4 556.1

Pskov region 2010 >2 (5.6)

175 heat 4-6%

electricity 1-2%

1 + 4 38.4 319.5

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The present thesis aimed to review and analyse the developments on renewable energy and particularly on bioenergy in the Northwest area of the Russian Federation, and to what extent policies in Northwest Russia and foreign involvement can explain the growth of bioenergy in Russia. The data was based on an extensive review of policy documents. This was particularly difficult, as despite being public statistics of easy retrieval in many EU countries, in the Russian Federation there is limited access to disaggregated data, particularly at regional level.

One of the objectives and added value of this thesis was to make these data available in a structured way, for a greater audience and for further analysis.

According to Rosstat (Russian Statistical Agency), in 2019 the share of renewable energy in Russia's electricity production excluding large HPPs was only 0.21%. Expert estimates are usually more optimistic, but as a rule they do not exceed 1%. In the European countries, RES excluding large HPPs already account for about 30% of total electricity production. In

Canada, it is approximately 5%. Of course, the value of RES depends largely on the resource dependency and policies of each individual country.

The national authorities of Russia are aware that the growing importance of renewable energy sources in providing for society's energy needs is a global trend and therefore support the development of renewable energy sources, including bioenergy. In any case, references to it are included in almost all strategic documents concerning the development of Russia's energy sector. The Government, represented by the heads of regions, has been instructed to develop a plan for the expansion of infrastructure to promote the development of decentralized

generation, including renewable energy sources. Nowadays, mechanisms are created and functioning to support construction of generating facilities using renewable energy sources at wholesale and retail electricity markets. In the retail market, the support mechanism can be applied to bioenergy enterprises. According to experts, this mechanism is not yet fully

functioning due to a large bureaucracy and a poorly designed scheme for obtaining support. In general, they say that the retail RES market is in the early stages of development and soon it will be able to assess its effectiveness.

Currently, the share of biomass combined with other renewable energy sources in the energy consumption of Northwest Russia is nearly 3% (Sukhanov, 2013). The majority of oil and petroleum products for heating purposes (communal sector) are used in the Far Eastern (32%) and Northwest federal districts (30%) (Think tank of the Russian government, 2015). At the

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same time, the regions receive subsidies from the federal budget for boiler houses on oil products. They compensate for the differences between economically reasonable tariffs and tariffs for the public. According to industry experts, it is the economic benefit of switching boiler houses from oil products to local fuels (namely biomass) that is the key objective for the government in this time. That is noticed in the independent consultancy sources (Vygon Consulting, 2019). The environmental goals of the transition to local bioenergy are second in importance. Also, one interesting fact should be noticed, that in the international cooperation framework with the Sweden National Energy organization STEM, which was doing the investment programs in the climate field was conducted the investment project. The boiler room on the wood fuel in the Lisino forest college (Leningrad region) was the first project in Russia in 1996.

Facts tell us that the introduction of RES is the complicated and new process in the Russian power industry. Also, many experts believe that the share of RES has already reached its peak and the increase is possible only with the implementation of active government support measures and decreasing of local subsidies. For just over 10 years have passed since taking concrete steps, it is still more difficult to assess more accurately the results of the RES policy.

On the other hand, it should be mentioned that Russia is very dependent on fossil fuels.

Lobbying interests of people in the gas and oil sector are still too strong at the state and regional levels. However, it is now clear to everyone in the government that a reasonable use of local energy resources is necessary. The government, in recent years, really has started to introduce real measures to support renewable energy. The risks of potential private investors in renewable energy are still high and their interest in project development is not significant.

By the way, now the Government of the Russia is considering the necessity and conditions of prolongation of the program of support for RES development in 2025-2035 perspective. The development of the share of RES in the fuel balances of regions still depends on the budgets and the development direction of each region. In my opinion, the development of RES in Russia will take place in the near future, even in the absence of state authorities' willingness to do so. As the advantages of RES in terms of environmental sustainability, job creation and profitability can no longer be ignored. In fact, there is a growing number of non-governmental organizations that have been established to promote the interests of the RES market

participants. We can really see it because the amount of real facts and publications mostly created by them.

Of course, to achieve the values as 4,5% of renewable energy use in the energy balance of the country are impossible without concrete state support. In Russian conditions, it is the complex

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related problem. Mainly oil and gas lobby and local subsidising. As much as I have done to study a completely new topic for me, I can conclude that the following trends could be seen in the northwest Russia bioenergy sector in the near future: new energy facilities on wood biofuel will appear in remote settlements where it is not possible to use natural gas for

heating; using of boilers based on oil products will gradually decrease by transferring to local fuel use instead of oil; new wood processing industries appearing in the region will utilize production waste for their own energy needs as well as production of wood pellets will increase export of the product. However, it will depend on availability of resources.

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Currently, the share of biomass combined with other renewable energy sources in the energy consumption of Northwest Russia is nearly 3%.The regions still receive subsidies from the federal budget for boiler houses running on oil products for compensating the differences between economically reasonable tariffs and tariffs for the public. According to industry experts, using these subsidies for switching boiler houses from oil products to local fuels (namely biomass) is the only possible practical tool for the regional authorities to boost usage of domestic wood resources for energy.

So, I can say that general policy recommendations created in the field of bioenergy in the Northwest Russia and for the whole country. The right to create RES development plans was transferred to local levels, sufficient subsidies are not provided. The existing real support measures are compensation of investment loans part and the possibility to use coal subsidies, which is not a common practice.

For now, Northwest Russia reached only 3% of bioenergy in the regional energy balance.

However, Northwest Russia has great potential for energy wood resources in terms of non- industrial roundwood, unused branches, defective wood from logging, lifted spruce stumps, and co-products from mechanical wood processing. Based on actual harvests and mechanical wood processing in 2006, it is estimated a total of 30.9 Mm³. Facts tell us that the introduction of wood bioenergy is complicated and new process in the Russian power industry. It is still difficult to assess more accurately the results of the bioenergy development in the Northwest Russia, as the official reports to be presented by the end of 2020.

The further research is needed to finish reviewing the first regional results of the bioenergy development.

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Bioenergy development in the Northwest region of the Russian Federation

Faculty of Science and Forestry