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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has approved a government order to increase renewable energy in Russia from less than 1% to 4.5% of the nation’s total energy by 2020.

The Kremlin’s order to ramp up renewable energy has set targets of 2.5% by 2015 and 4.5% by 2020. That translates into 45.2 billion kiloWatt hours of renewable energy production by 2020, based on the country’s current electricity production.

To reach these goals, the government will fund small hydro, tidal, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass energy facilities. Wind energy, for instance, is slated to expand from 12 MW (2005) to some 7000 MW by 2020.

Developing Russia’s economically recoverable renewable energy could cut some 990 million tons of CO2 emissions a year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (PDF) To put that number in perspective, it would be the equivalent of preventing two-thirds of the CO2 emissions of the United States from entering the atmosphere. This estimate, as well as Russia’s renewable energy statistics, doesn’t take into account large hydroelectric projects, which already account for 21% of Russia’s total energy.

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There are three chief problems underlying Russia’s current underdevelopment of renewable energy. First, in the government order Putin blames a lack of the tools and scientific expertise necessary to redesign Russia’s energy infrastructure. Second, most Russians perceive renewable energy as an expensive option practical only in wealthier countries. Finally, the country’s abundance of fossil fuels make renewables seem superfluous.

However, Russia has ample incentives to turn to renewable energy. Russia’s technical potential for renewable energy is over five times the country’s total primary energy supply, according to the OECD. Currently, Russia exports so much of its natural gas that some energy rich areas of the Russian Far East are actually living in an energy deficit. Tapping just a fraction the country’s potential renewable energy would allow Russia to dramatically increase its energy exports while still ensuring energy for its own citizens.

Renewable energy developers could also take advantage of Russia’s vast existing energy grid. At the same time, off-grid renewable sources like home solar could provide power to the roughly 10 million Russians not connected to the grid.

Putin’s order provides a rough outline of how the government’s plans to overcome the challenges that have thus far prohibited renewable energy development. Four areas of concentration will be to coordinate individual state’s energy policies, monitor energy targets, fund renewable energy research and development and encourage venture capital from outside companies. Already, Wind giant Vestas has installed around two dozen offshore turbines in the Baltic Sea and looks eager to invest more in Russia’s renewable energy development.

Source: ClimateIntel via ENN.

Image credit: Alan Cordova via Flickr, under a Creative Commons license.

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