The BRICS countries have signed a power memorandum

Авторы и источники / Правообладателям

On November 20th within the bounds of the ENES 2015 Forum Minister of power engineering of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak carried out the first meeting of the Ministers of power engineering of the BRICS countries. According to the results of the meeting, the ceremony of signing of the Memorandum of mutual understanding in the field if energy saving and increase of energy efficiency between ministries and departments of BRICS responsible for power engineering took place.

The Memorandum was signed by: Alexander Valentinovich Novak, the Minister of power engineering of the Russian Federation; Antonio Jose Vallim Guerreiro, the Ambassador extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Brazil in Russia, the head of the delegation; Bhgagwati Prasad Pandey, the deputy Minister of electric power engineering in India, the head of the delegation; Nur Berki, the director of the National Energy Administration, the head of the delegation; Tina Joemat-Petterson, the Minister of power engineering in South Africa.

In particular, in order of assistance of the access to energy efficient technologies the sides will determine the list of energy efficient and clean technologies in which the BRICS countries are interested. Besides, the register (the database) of existing energy efficient technologies in the BRICS countries will be created. Moreover, the countries agreed to activate the collaboration of the state sector, private companies and international banks of development with the aim of attraction of investments to energy efficient projects and technologies in the determined fields.

The power departments of the BRICS countries are going to study expediency and possibility of institutionalization of the power collaboration within the bounds of the partnership. In particular, we  mean joint technical researches, conferences, lectures and seminars, studying and transfer of technologies, development of technologies, exchange of experience and so on.

“Within the bounds of the Memorandum we create a working group on questions of energy efficiency, which will solve the questions of the joint development of technologies, finance instruments, register of infrastructure projects and their finance, exchange of information, experience of carrying out of researches and working outs, preparation of forecasts of the development of the world and our power sectors, development of the youth collaboration”, said Alexander Novak.

Besides that, according to the words of the head of the Ministry of Energy of Russia, they are going to work out a joint list of energy efficient technologies, to activate the collaboration of state sectors, private companies and international banks of development. The possibility of a complex program of collaboration in the field of energy-saving and increase of energy efficiency will be also studied.

The possibility of creation of a joint power agency on the basis of BRICS and carrying out of joint calculations in national currencies were also discussed. “Russia has already led the practice of the joint calculations for fuel and power resources in national currencies with its nearest neighbours and that practice will develop. To organize such a monitoring within the bounds of BRICS is an interesting task not only in the part of development of the power collaboration but also in the part of reduce of dependence on interim currency and means of calculation for energy resources”, added the Minister.

Mr. Berki drew attention to the importance of collaboration of the countries and even on the level of building a single infrastructure, of restoration of technological basis and joint production of equipment and providing of service. He emphasized that overcoming of difficulties within the bounds of the partnership would speed up the rise of building of the energy efficient culture and would help to run the world power engineering.

 In her speech Mrs. Joemat-Petterson said that in South Africa a global program for the reduce of dependence on mineral kinds of fuel and rise of energy efficiency by 2019 was taken. To her mind the BRICS Bank had to concentrate its financing on power engineering projects as one of the basis of economy. Mrs. Joemat-Petterson also thinks that the BRICS countries must increase energy efficiency of all the developing economics. “We use the world experience and we are ready to share ours. We should collaborate”, said Mrs. Minister.

Mr. Guerreiro told about the experience of Brazil in the field of the renewed power engineering. In Brazilian power engineering there are 39% for renewed technologies (mainly due to hydropower) with an average level of 13% in the world. Relying on the increase of demand for clean generation, they are going to lead this percentage to 43% in Brazil by 2023 and to invest about 340 billiard of dollars in the nearest 10 years.

As Mr. Prasad Pandey told in his speech, in India quite a lot of  population didn't have any access to  electric power. For the correction of that fact the state program is in process now and it will have provided all the population with the access by the end of 2018. In India there is also a program of exchange of street lanterns to LED ones. The government is going to reduce the part of coal power engineering and to increase energy efficiency and first of all in the industrial sector. “In this work the collaboration with BRICS will help us”, expressed his hope Mr. Prasad Pandey.

Within the bounds of the first meeting of the ministers of power engineering representatives of large Russian companies and other BRICS countries also took part. Among them were “Gazprom Neft”, GEK, “FGC UES”, “Rosseti”, Hevel”, Eskom.

As Oleg Budargin said, the head of the “Rosseti” company, on the agenda there were new and quick decisions of such questions as the increase of reliability and quality of electric power supply, which outruns the development of electric grid infrastructure, increase of energy efficiency, reduce of losses and provision of energy safety.

“Today we can solve these questions in two directions. It is first of all a complex wide-ranging modernization of the existing electric grid complex on the base of adaptive grids of a new generation, development of distributed renewed electric power engineering. These important questions can be solved efficiently and qualitatively by the unification of efforts”, said Mr. Budargin.

Andrew Murov, the head of the “FGC UES”, added that in conditions of a weak economical growth, including the largest developing countries, the volume of energy consumption reduces and as a result income of the power sector reduce either. The increase of the work efficiency becomes the main task for the grid complex.

“The key to this is the access of power companies to modern, efficient working-outs. Besides, the growth of the competition allows to get the best price and technologies. It can be reached with the help of diversification of import and localization of production of the equipment at the territory of Russia, including the use of domestic working-outs. Here the BRICS countries is our natural and strategic partner”,- emphasized the head of the FGC UES. Mr. Murov also said that one of the most perspective directions of collaboration was the realization of joint projects by the BRICS companies in the field of electric power engineering both at the territory of participating countries and at the territory of the third countries. Such complex projects allows to involve research organizations, project and engineering companies and also producers of equipment into work.

The first meeting of the Ministers of power engineering of the BRICS countries finished with the signing of the memorandum and press-briefing during which the Ministers answered a nomber of journalists' questions.

“One of the most significant stages of our economic and finance collaboration within the bounds of BRICS has become an actual creation of the BRICS Bank. It will serve for the strengthening of our joint interests, increase of the stability of the countries' economy, unification, realization of infrastructure projects”, said Mr. Novak. He thinks that all the joint power and infrastructure projects will be able to be financed by with this bank. Today the BRICS Bank, which is going to start its work next year, is on the stage of the forming of the capital of about 10 billiard dollars, but in a perspective the capital will be about 100 billiard dollars.

Mr. Novak also added that “Gazprom” and the Chinese CNPC were finishing the discussion of technical moments and prices on gas. “Today the coordination of positions of a technical kind is coming to the end, parameters of a price on gas are also on a stage of negotiations. We hope that these negotiations will be finished in the nearest future. It is difficult to forecast the date of the end of the negotiations”.

At the press-briefing Mrs. Joemat-Petterson told about the interest of Russian companies in the collaboration with partners from South Africa. She emphasized that such an interest was from the side of “Rosatom”, “Rosneft”, “Gazprom”,”Rosgeologiya” leads big work in working outs, including gas. “The Ministries of power engineering of South Africa and Russia are always in productive contact. We are very interested in the collaboration in the field of different technologies”, added the Minister.

In the end, the head of the Ministry of Energy of Russia suggested to arrange meetings of the ministers of power engineering of the BRICS countries for meetings in the G20 format and “that will allow to bring closer our positions with the other partners on G20”.

The next meeting within the bounds of the collaboration will take place in Brazil in 2016.