On Technology Readiness to Develop Wind Energy Sector in Russia

This paper is devoted to the study of the application of existing technologies for the development of electricity and heat supply together with renewable energy sources. The transition to alternative energy is inevitable, and it is necessary to envisage advanced renewable energy technologies and a phased transition to a new type of energy supply given the scale of the heat supply infrastructure in Russia. Today, in the Russian Federation, renewable energy sources constitute only a small part of the total energy production, but in the last few years there has been a strong trend towards an increase in renewable energy production. This paper is to assess the readiness of innovative solutions (technologies) in renewable energy sources in the Russian Federation, particularly in wind energy projects. Wind energy projects in Russia were evaluated by the TRL method, based on the results of which it was concluded that they are technologically ready for scaling up projects in other areas of the Russian Federation. The paper uses the standard TRL scale to assess technology readiness. According to this scale, Russian projects are in a high degree of readiness, which makes it possible to use them now to modernize the Russian energy system. In our opinion, the modernization of the heat supply system should start in the residential sector, since it is more adapted to technological innovations. Russia has the largest centralized heating system in the world, which can be called its characteristic feature. Due to its large size, it has insufficient maneuverability. Therefore, in case the Russian energy industry switches to renewable energy sources, it would be crucial to prepare the heat supply infrastructure in advance. The paper provides recommendations for the construction of houses with the originally designed energy and thermal infrastructure in advance. The calculation of the installed electric and heat supply infrastructure is compared against steam-water systems. The calculation results show that building a house with a power supply and heating system is more expensive, but strategically this system is the most energy efficient and consistent with the principles of sustainable energy, which is a priority in the digital era.