Belarus to reduce natural gas consumption after fully commissioning nuclear power plant

MINSK, 20 October (BelTA) – There are plans to reduce the consumption of natural gas by about 4.5 billion m3 every year once the Belarusian nuclear power plant is fully operational, BelTA learned from Aleksandr Zakharevich, Deputy Head of the Energy Effectiveness, Ecology, and Science Office of the Belarusian Energy Ministry.

Aleksandr Zakharevich said: “The Energy Ministry has done a colossal amount of work in the field of renewable energy. Virtually 4-5 years ago electricity generation in our energy balance was primarily based on natural gas. This share exceeded 90%. We imported natural gas. Once the Belarusian nuclear power plant is built and fully operational in 2023, we intend to reduce the consumption of imported natural gas by about 4-4.5 billion m3 every year. I'd like to note that everything will depend on the specific gas-powered electricity generators that we will phase out.” In his words, there are plans to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by 6-7 million tonnes.

The official went on saying: “Since the first unit started working, the Belarusian nuclear power plant has generated over 20 billion kWh of electricity, which allowed substituting about 5 billion m3 of natural gas and saving about $600-650 million. It represents a significant contribution to the reduction of our economy's dependence on carbon. In the future we intend to consider the advisability of building a third unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant if necessary.”