Sustainable Energy Successees

   

The region of Leningrad has a huge power-producing sector and a big electricity network, but local farmers settlements in the region, like Istinka, are not connected to the grid. Here, the closest power line is 5 km away. The farmers have to look for an autonomous energy source which usually means using car batteries.

In January, 1996 a farming family in Istinka purchased a small wind-power plant to produce electricity for their farm. The material costs were 800 USD, and a local company producing wind-power plants as a part of a conversion programme for companies previously producing military equipment provided it. The generator is small, with a power output of about 300W. It weighs approximately 40 kilos, including control unit, and two people in less than three hours installed it.

The owners are happy with the power plant. As they say, "The wind power plant has already paid for itself in terms of comfort, as we no longer need to carry heavy car batteries to recharge every week".

Wind in Russia Russia has one of the largest wind energy potentials in the world. For many of the more than 10 mill. families that are too far from the electric grid, wind is an obvious choice. The currently subsidised electricity prices make it difficult for wind-electricity to compete with electricity from the grid. More than 10 companies are currently producing wind turbines in Russia. A development of larger grid-connected wind turbines is now emerging in Russia. In June 1998 a demonstration turbine of 600 kW was erected in Kaliningrad at the Baltic Sea. The production was coordinated by the Danish Folkecenter for Renewable Energy while many of the components were produced locally. Several other projects are recently finished or "in the pipeline" across Russia.