subscribe to news Plenary session held at RENWEX 2021 exhibition and forum

Decarbonisation and Energy Transition: Outlook for RES Technologies in Russia and Globally is the theme of the plenary meeting that opens the conference programme of the international exhibition and forum RENWEX 2021 Renewable Energy and Electric Vehicles at Expocentre Fairgrounds.

Member of the Russian State Duma, Chairman of the NTI Expo Organising Committee Vladimir Kononov and Renewable Energy Development Association Director Alexey Zhikharev served as the plenary meeting moderators. Kononov said in his opening remarks that the modern scientific and technological progress was more reliant on new, breakthrough technologies, rather than traditional ones. Therefore, the RENWEX 2021 international exhibition and forum are dedicated to the most progressive alternative technologies in the field of energy and transport: de-carbonization of the energy sector, development of renewable energy resources, and electric transport, Kononov said. He referred to experts who believe that Russia has a huge physical and economic potential in the field of renewable energy resources.

While responding to the moderator’s question whether a large-scale transition of the Russian energy sector to alternative resources was possible, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Snikkars said that it was also a matter of costs. Speaking of solar and wind energy, that may happen after price parameters become comparable with those of traditional generation. At the same time, renewable energy is an important area. The second programme of support for renewable energy was recently adopted by the government, he said. 

Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Mikhail Ivanov said, for his part, that the significance of transition to low-carbon technologies in the energy and transport sectors could hardly be overestimated. The Industry and Trade Ministry is taking an active part in the development of industrial competences in the high-tech, rapidly growing segments. 

As to the global trends, renewable energy, including the market of wind energy equipment, will be growing by about 2% per year, while the solar energy equipment market will be growing by about 7%. Experts believe that the number of electric vehicles will near 270 worldwide in 2030, the deputy minister said. While speaking of Russia, Ivanov said that a new industry sector has been created over the past seven years. Nowadays, production facilities are capable of manufacturing 1.5 GW generating equipment for wind and solar energy enterprises.

General Director of the Regional Technological Development Agency Vadim Pavlov spoke about the development of renewable energy projects in the Ulyanovsk region. Head of the Audi office in Russia Lubomir Naiman familiarized meeting participants with the development of hydrogen car engines.

A variety of aspects and trends in decarbonisation of the energy sector, development of renewable energy resources, hydrogen energy and related new technologies were highlighted by prominent international and Russian experts: Deputy Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Gauri Singh, Russian Energy Industry REA Federal State Unitary Enterprise General Director Alexey Kulapin, German Energy Agency (DENA) Managing Director Kristina Haverkamp, Chairman of the Energy and Coordination Committee of the Green Initiative project of the Association of European Businesses (AEB) Ernesto Ferlenghi, Hevel Deputy General Director Anton Usachev, and Russian Association of Wind Power Industry Board Chairman Igor Bryzgunov.

Panel discussions entitled “International Technological Cooperation and Development of Green Innovations” and “Digital Transformation of the Energy Sector: Innovations and Energy Efficiency,” and a panel dedicated to renewable energy norms and regulations were also held today.

View video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pjc7U_xDQw