OREANDA-NEWS. May 14, 2009. The Austrian companies are interested in the construction of a cascade of hydropower stations in Belarus, Leonid Shenets, deputy chairman of the State Standardization Committee of Belarus – director of the energy efficiency department, told mass media in a plenary session within the Energy Days of Austria in Belarus on May 13.

There are some opportunities in Belarus to construct several cascades of hydropower stations: up to 20MW hydropower station on the Dnieper, up to 80MW hydropower station on the Nieman and up to 100MW hydropower station on the Western Dvina. Participation of Austrian companies and firms in other energy projects is considered as well. Thus, a CHP plant working on peat will be built in Khoiniki and a 30MW energy facility operating on biomass will be constructed in Svetlogorsk. “There are also other projects on developing renewable energy, setting up energy facilities working on biomass. We invite our Austrian partners to take part in them,” Leonid Shenets said.

According to him, the aggregate energy consumption in Austria is higher than in Belarus, yet energy intensity is lower. Austria has gained a wealth of experience in utilization of its own energy resources. “They account for 23% of the country’s fuel consumption mix. A half of them is wood, biomass, firewood. Austria pays a great attention to hydropower engineering. The country is among the leaders in terms of the construction of hydropower stations,” he said.

Belarus and Austria have quite an experience of cooperation in the energy industry. Austrian companies have taken part in a range of projects in Belarus on creating energy facilities and implementing advanced technologies in power engineering. “We hope that our cooperation will be further developing. Our country is ready to offer a set of promising energy projects to our Austrian partners,” Leonid Shenets said.