Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Tidal Country Notes

Russian Federation
Design studies for tidal power development have been conducted in Russia since the 1930s. As part of this work, a small pilot plant with a capacity of 400 kW was constructed in Kislaya Bay on the Barents Sea and commissioned in 1968. The location has now become an experimental site for testing new tidal power technologies.

Early in 2007, GidroOGK, a subsidiary of the Russian electric utility, Unified Energy Systems (UES), began the installation of a 1.5 MW orthogonal turbine alongside the original Kislaya Bay tidal facility. The experimental turbines will be thoroughly tested as part of a pilot project to assist in the design of large-scale tidal power plants.

There are currently two ambitious projects for TPPs in the Federation:
Mezenski Bay (on the White Sea, in northern Russia): proposed capacity 15 GW, annual output 40 TWh; Tugurki Bay (on the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East): 7.98 GW, 20 TWh annual output.

If the 1.5 MW experimental installation at the Barents Sea location proves successful, UES intends to embark on a programme for constructing giant-size TPPs such as those projected.