OREANDA-NEWS. October 2, 2007. While presenting the general scheme for the development of power facilities in Russia till 2020, Deputy Industry and Energy Minister of Russia Andrey Dementyev said that by 2020 the number of nuclear power capacities in the country will be increased by 2.3 times, coal power capacities by 1.7 times, water power capacities by 47%, gas power capacities by 41%.

A total of 186 GW of new capacities will be launched in Russia by 2020: 32.3 GW of nuclear, 25 GW of water and 53 GW of coal capacities. “Simultaneously, we will be gradually replacing outdated gas plants by steam gas plants. As a result, by 2020 the share of gas power generation in the total energy balance of the country will be reduced to 33%-34%, while the shares of coal and nuclear power generation will be increased from 25% to 32% and from 16% to 21%, respectively.“

Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said that the general scheme for  the development of power facilities in Russia till 2020 would be adopted shortly.

“We are already finalizing this document,” Khristenko said.

He noted that the development of many industries in Russia strongly depended on the adoption of the scheme. “I, first of all, mean metallurgy and transport and I would like to ask businessmen to help us with the scheme and with the related development programs in other sectors.”

Khristenko pointed out that four years ago, when the Government was adopting the energy sector development strategy, GDP was expected to grow by an average of 4.5% a year, RUR/USD exchange rate to 36/1, the oil price to $34 per barrel. “Today, we have quite different figures. So, we have to revise the parameters of the strategy. As to the goals, they are the same,” Khristenko said.