In 2008, Dmitry Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation at that time, mandated that
his country raises the share of renewable energy in its total energy output, and took
measures to promote the development of renewable energy projects. Thanks to its vast
territory, Russia has almost unlimited potential to develop renewable energy projects.
According to the target, Dmitry Medvedev has set 4.5% of the energy generation to come
from renewable energy sources in 2020. After four years of joint efforts of the Russian
government, external experts and Russian pioneers, it is time to make an interim
assessment.1
First of all, it is important to note, that Russia is a well-established producer of hydroelectric
energy, ranking fifth among the world’s producers of renewable energy. 15% of the country’s
energy production originates from hydro sources, mostly from colossal hydroelectric power
stations. However, when Russian officials and experts declare the need to develop
renewable energy, they usually do not refer to this sector, which actually functions quite well
and is rather profitable2
. The current discussions on measures to popularize renewable
energy focus on decentralized and smaller projects for geothermal, tidal, wind, solar, bio fuel,
biomass and small-scale hydroelectric power stations. In these areas renewable energy is
still underdeveloped in Russia, although the environment and number of natural resources
on the territory of the country present considerable potential for it