Minister: Lukashenko’s decisions helped ensure effective performance of energy sector

MINSK, 2 July (BelTA) – The president's decisions helped ensure the effective development of the energy system and beef up the country’s energy security, Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich said at the ceremony to commission peaker energy generating devices at four energy facilities. The event was timed to the 30th anniversary of the institution of presidency in Belarus, BelTA learned from the press service of the Energy Ministry.

According to the energy minister, thanks to the support of the head of state, the industry has undergone gradual large-scale modernization. Today it is a reliable supplier of electricity for the economy and households.

“We all remember very well the difficult period of the 1990s, when there was a drop in industrial output and energy consumption, disruptions in logistics, supplies of raw materials and components. After the election of Aleksandr Lukashenko as president, the country overcame the economic crisis, restored growth in production and energy consumption,” noted Viktor Karankevich.

Since the early 2000s, two state programs have been implemented in the energy industry. The first one sought comprehensive upgrade of key facilities of the Belarusian energy system, energy saving and increase in the share of local fuel in the country’s energy mix for the period until 2011. The second program was meant to improve the Belarusian energy system for the period until 2016. Highly efficient generating capacities were put into operation and inefficient equipment was removed, and units at the main high-pressure stations were upgraded.

According to the minister, over the past 30 years, the installed capacity of energy generation facilities has increased 1.8 times to 12,000 MW. Enormous work has been done to modernize the electrical grid infrastructure - the total length of electrical networks has increased by 30,000km, and the length of heating networks has almost doubled.

Key performance indicators of the energy system have improved significantly. In 2023, the total electricity consumption in the country increased by 2.5 billion kWh and reached a record of 41.1 billion kWh. The positive dynamics remain in place this year: over the five months, electricity consumption increased by 1.6 billion kWh.

“The commissioning of the nuclear power plant was a historical moment for the industry,” emphasized Viktor Karankevich. The country has completely stopped importing electricity. The dependence on imported natural gas has decreased. The construction of such a large-scale high-tech facility has given a powerful impetus to the energy sector and related industries and prompted broad introduction of the latest technologies.

Since the first power unit was connected to the energy grid on 3 November 2020, the Belarusian nuclear power plant has generated a total of almost 32 billion kWh of electricity, which allowed replacing 8.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas.