Belarus to import 2.5bn kWh of electric energy in 2015

Belarus has plans to purchase about 2.5 billion kWh of electric energy from abroad in 2015, BelTA learnt from Energy Minister of Belarus Vladimir Potupchik.

“We plan to purchase approximately 2.5 billion kWh from abroad in 2015; however, this figure is preliminary. It will be finalized taking into consideration the repair effort and the need to maintain the reliable operation of the Belarusian power grid,” the Energy Minister said. He added that it is still impossible to say how much Belarus will purchase from Russia and Ukraine, because everything will depend on the price they will offer. “The price will be negotiable. The costs are cut constantly due to the ongoing work to upgrade the Belarusian energy system,” Vladimir Potupchik said.

The Energy Minister drew attention to the fact that the Belarusian energy market influences the general pricing process. “If we fail to come to terms, we will start generating electric energy using our own capacities instead,” he continued.

Apart from that, Vladimir Potupchik informed that energy import agreements, including that with Ukraine, are unlikely to be revised this year. He emphasized: “We fulfill our obligations to purchase a guaranteed amount of energy”. In 2014 Belarus is to import 3 billion kWh of energy from Ukraine and about 1 billion kWh from Russia.

According to the Energy Minister, Belarus’ cuts down energy import ever year. In 2014, the electricity import nearly halved over 2012. “This trend will remain in place in the future,” the Energy Minister said.

Belenergo informed earlier that from the economic point of view Belarus is able to generate all the needed energy on its own: the country’s power grid has been upgraded for several years and the upgrade effort will continue. The renovation of existing power generating infrastructure and the construction of new energy-efficient facilities allows generating more energy and even cutting down on fuel consumption during energy generation.

Today Belarus is ahead of other CIS member states in terms of the pace of reducing specific fuel consumption. During the implementation of the previous national energy security program (2006-2013), the country commissioned 1,242MW of highly efficient energy generation facilities, which allowed saving 2.64 million tonnes of fuel equivalent.