INTRODUCTION
«Previous Next» Back to report
In recent years scholars around the world have concentrated their attention on finding new energy sources and including them into national fuel and energy budgets. A special emphasis has been put on non-conventional renewable energy sources, such as the sun, wind, small rivers, tides, waves and other sources. The range of potential uses for these energy sources is practically unlimited. Their ecological cleanness is unquestionable.
Russia also appreciates the possibilities promised by the application of non-conventional energy sources [1,2]. Their inclusion into the national economy provides a way to cut levels of fossil fuel consumption, introduce better energy efficiency and improve the ecological conditions for the end-user.
Prospects of application of non-conventional renewable energy sources are most encouraging in areas which are inherently rich in these resources, but lacking in traditional fuels. In Russia’s European north, one of these areas is the Murmansk region (see picture), whose energy economy avails itself of existing hydropower resources, but is also heavily dependent on fuels supplied from elsewhere in the country, such as nuclear fuel, coal, oil products and liquefied gas.
 |
|
|
The region has at its disposal a wide range of renewable energy sources, such as sun, wind, small rivers, tides and waves. Of these, solar resources are the most significant [3,4]. But the particular conditions of life in the sub-arctic pose a number of difficulties where development of this energy source is concerned. These challenges are primarily the result of the minimal amount – or complete absence – of sunlight reception during the winter months, when consumers’ demand for energy is highest. Furthermore, existing technologies capable of converting solar energy into heat or electric power have yet to reach an acceptable degree of efficiency and are expensive, which, from the point of view of economic considerations, makes them seem less impressive compared to traditional energy installations running on fossil fuels. But at the same time, solar energy is a continually developing sector of the power complex with very encouraging possibilities, so an evaluation of the region’s solar energy resources merits our attention.
Wind resources on the Kola Peninsula are less abundant than those of the sun, but they are still tremendous [5,6]. The most prominent wind energy potential is found in the coastal areas of the Barents and White seas, as well as in the mountains of Khibiny and the tundra around the city of Monchegorsk. It has been determined that winds here are most intense during the colder seasons of the year, when energy consumption is at its peak. Moreover, wind energy is a perfect complement to another renewable energy source: river energy, whose potential decreases to a minimum level during the winter time.
Hydroenergy has been harvested for more than 70 years on the Kola Peninsula. Six major rivers of the peninsula are harnessed by 17 hydroelectric power plants, which supply more than a third of all electric power consumed in the region. At the same time, the region abounds in small undeveloped rivers, where midget, mini- and micro-hydroelectric power plants could be built to make a significant contribution to power supply in remote and isolated areas.
The Kola Peninsula can also avail itself of the considerate resources it has in tidal energy. Many years of research have given experts a deep insight into the issue of application of this type of energy [7]. A 400-kilowatt experimental tidal power plant has been built in Kislaya Bay, on the coast of the Barents Sea. Cross sections have been evaluated for the construction of larger tidal power plants in Dolgaya Bay near the village of Teriberka and in the Lumbovsky Gulf of the White Sea.
In a number of countries, studies of application of the energy of ocean surface waves have reached a point where it has become possible to build small-capacity experimental and pilot commercial models for wave power generation [8,9]. The Kola Peninsula has among its resources a coastline stretching for more than 1,000 kilometers. An evaluation of the potential of this type of energy and the prospects of using wave power installations in certain shoreline locations deserves attention as well.
The development of non-conventional renewable energy sources in the Murmansk region was consistently held back until very recently due to relatively low prices for fossil fuels on the one hand, and the high costs of equipment necessary to use these energy sources on the other. Today, the situation is changed. Fuel prices have grown significantly, as have electric power and heating rates. The technology needed for full-scale commercial production of power installations operating on energy from the sun, wind, small rivers, tides and surface waves has made great advancements. In countries such as Germany, Spain, the US and Denmark certain branches of the non-conventional energy sector, like wind energy or distributed hydropower generation, have become competitive in comparison with their traditional counterparts, and the scope of their development is now commensurate with that of the conventional power industry.
In light of these factors, the present work aimed at evaluating the potential of non-conventional renewable energy sources in the Murmansk region and assessing their prospective role in the development of the region’s energy economy is both relevant and important.
«Previous Next» Back to report
