Belarus to import 2.5bn kWh of electricity from Russia in 2015

Belarus will import 2.5 billion kWh of electricity from Russia this year, Belarus Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik told a press conference, BelTA has learned.

"Belarus will import the necessary volume from Russia. We stopped purchasing electricity from Ukraine. It was not our decision. Actually the Ukrainian side informed us that it has no technical capacities to deliver electricity,” the Minister said.

At the beginning of this year, the Energy Ministry announced plans to import about 2.8 billion kWh of Russian electricity in 2015, which would account for about 7% of the country’s total consumption. This year Belarus is expected to consume 38.5 billion kWh of electricity.

Belarus has been working to reduce the import of electricity. It imported 7.9 billion kWh in 2012, 6.7 billion kWh in 2013, and 3.8 billion kWh in 2014.

The Energy Ministry said that Belarus’ electric power system is connected to the power systems of its neighbor states (Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic countries) via electricity transmission lines of 330-750 kW, which allows choosing electricity suppliers taking into account the electric power balances of these countries. Belarus generates most of the electricity it consumes using it own energy sources.