Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Hydropower Country Notes

Russian Federation

Russia's hydro resource base is enormous - the gross theoretical potential is some 2 295 TWh/yr, of which 852 TWh is regarded as economically feasible. The bulk of the Federation's potential is in its Asian regions (Siberia and the Far East). Hydro generation in 2005 (165 TWh) represented 19% of the economic potential and accounted for about 18% of total electricity generation.

At the end of 2005 installed hydroelectric generating capacity was about 45 700 MW, according to the Russian WEC Member Committee; 5 648 MW of additional capacity was under construction and 8 000 MW of further capacity was planned for installation.

Two plants under construction were in partial operation at end-2005: Bureiskaya on the River Bureya in the Russian Far East, with 670 MW in use and Irganaiskaya in Dagestan, southern North Caucasus, with 214 MW. The planned capacities of these two plants on completion are 2 000 MW and 800 MW, respectively.

Click for Table (Large hydro: >10 MW  / Small scale hydro: <10 MW)

The other hydro plants under construction comprised:

• Boguchanskaya (1 920 MW, eventually rising to 3 000 MW) on the Angara river in southeast Siberia;
• Zelenchukskie HPPs (320 MW) in Karachai-Circassia, North Caucasus;
• Zaramagskie HPPs (352 MW) in North Ossetia, North Caucasus;
• Nizhne-Cherekskie HPPs (Sovetskaya HPP) (60 MW) in Kabardino-Balkaria, North Caucasus.