VITEBSK, 28 June (BelTA) – Belarus-Russia cooperation in power engineering is comprehensive and strategic. Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich made the statement during the plenary session on the role of interregional cooperation in building an innovative economy of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, BelTA has learned.
Viktor Karankevich said: “Belarus-Russia cooperation in power engineering is comprehensive and strategic. It ensures the sustainable development of the national economies, enhances the energy sovereignty and the technological potential of the Union State. Despite the growing sanctions-fueled pressure and external restrictions the fuel and energy complexes of Belarus and Russia operate steadily and supply consumers with energy resources in full. Joint innovative projects in key fields of power engineering are getting implemented. The largest one was the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, which represented a new milestone in the history of Belarusian-Russian relations.
The nuclear power plant has been built together with the Russian state corporation Rosatom according to the AES-2006 design featuring water-cooled and water-moderated Generation III+ reactors and boasting enhanced safety parameters. “The project brought together scientific and engineering schools, tens of enterprises and thousands of specialists of our countries. It became a powerful impulse for broad assimilation of cutting-edge technologies in power engineering and allied sectors. Essentially a new economy branch has been created in our country – nuclear energy industry,” the energy minister noted.
“The Belarusian nuclear power plant already works for the benefit of the country’s economy and produces a tangible effect. Since the first unit was connected to the national power grid [on 3 November 2020] the nuclear power plant has generated a total of 31.5 billion kWh of electricity, which allowed substituting over 8 billion of natural gas,” Viktor Karankevich added. “The nuclear power plant became a serious impulse for the development of the power grid infrastructure in the republic. In 2023 the volume of construction and reconstruction of power grids in Belarus rose by 1.7 times in comparison with 2022. Active work is in progress to upgrade power substations. Close attention is paid to the digitization of power grid installations, to improving the quality of administration of the power grid infrastructure, to the development of domestic software. For the sake of broad introduction of digital solutions agency-specific programs have been adopted and industry-specific competence centers have been set up. Within the framework of joint working groups with Russian colleagues we work out comprehensive measures to reduce the dependence of the fuel and energy complex on imported equipment, technologies, and software.”
