Celebrate! Local Gov. In Arctic Russia Marks Energy Switch; New Boiler Will Burn Coal, Not Oil

[hatrack]

Deputy Governor Yuri Serdyechkin this week proudly visited the new boiler house built in the city of Severomorsk. Regional authorities have spent more than 65 million rubles (€750.000) on the facility that is to provide heating and hot water to at least 500 local inhabitants. It will replace an ageing boiled fuelled by mazut, the expensive and highly polluting fuel oil.

This will help us save more than 30 million rubles per year, Serdyechkin explained during his visit to site. The price on mazut has significantly grown over the past years, and heating costs are now increasingly draining regional budgets. Serdyechkin was accompanied around on site by Alla Istomina, the general director of MES (Murmanskenergosbyt), the regional heating provider. According to Istomina, the new boiler meets all necessary environmental standards.

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The installation in Severomorsk is not the only new coal-fuelled boiler in the far northern Russian region. In 2019, two similar installations were built in villages of Leypi and Beloye More. The two boilers cost a total of 95 million rubles, the Murmansk Development Corporation informs. The heating system across the Kola Peninsula is in dire need for upgrades and additional coal-fuelled boilers could soon be built. Despite its devastating effect on climate change, coal remains a core component in the Russian energy mix.

Over the last 10 years, the country has boosted its coal production by more than 30 percent to a total of 440 million tons, and production is to continue upwards. According to a draft development program, annual coal production might reach as much as 670 million tons in the course of the next 15 years.

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https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2021/08/murmansk-celebrates-closure-oil-fuelled-boiler-new-one-runs-coal

[hunter]

1. 500 people. It's no big deal.

Biomass could possibly be worse.

No, I wouldn't trust any random group of 500 people to operate their own nuclear reactor, no matter how foolproof the design.

When the time comes we treat climate change seriously we can send this village carbon-neutral solid synthetic fuels for their boiler.

[hatrack]

2. But Wait! There's More! New Russian Arctic Coal Terminal Will Move 7 Million Tons/Year

A significant number of excavators, bulldozers and trucks are busy with the building of what will become a new major piece of infrastructure in the Russian Arctic. The ongoing construction of a 1,5 km long dam is to be completed in the course of the year. It will connect the remote sea shore with a terminal for loading of coal.

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The terminal berth will be 300 meter long, which allows for the handling of 100,000 ton deadweight ships. The whole infrastructure object will ultimately cover a 20 hectare area, and also a storage facility for up to 1 million tons of coal will be built, the developers say. By year 2026, the project is to produce about 7 million tons of coal per year.

Severnaya Zvezda intends to invest more than 45 billion rubles in the project by 2025, and at least 2,000 new jobs will be created.

The Yenisey Seaport is one of several major new infrastructure project currently unfolding in Russia’s far northern Taymyr Peninsula. About 50 km south of the new coal terminal will come oil company Rosneft’s major Sever oil terminal that is to serve the Vostok Oil project.

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https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic-mining/2021/08/big-dig-yenisey-shore-paves-way-new-major-coal-terminal

[hunter]

3. If any nation was truly serious about climate change...

... they'd start by banning the import and export of fossil fuels.