Strategic energy projects in Russia require long-term planning and special lending terms

Aisen Nikolaev, head of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic and chair of the State Council's energy commission, took part in a session of the international forum Russian Energy Week. Heads of federal agencies, nuclear and hydropower generators, regional leaders and lawmakers discussed launching a new investment cycle in the electricity sector and the mechanisms for attracting investment in generation facilities.

Nikolaev said planning for large energy facilities must account for their specifics and long payback periods. Evaluating hydropower plants over ten or even twenty years, he argued, would mean no large hydro plant would be built in the country. Such plants, he stressed, should be designed on a forecast looking half a century ahead.

According to the General Scheme for placing electricity facilities, Russia must build 88 GW of new capacity and modernise 65 GW of existing capacity by 2042, requiring investment above 40 trillion rubles. Nikolaev called for new state-level financing mechanisms and long-term credit instruments with rates matching the sector's horizon. In Yakutia, more than 2 GW of new capacity worth over 1 trillion rubles is under construction, with commissioning planned within three years.