On April 24 through 26, ExpoForum hosted the 12th Russian International Energy Forum. This year, the event has been attended by 7,000 people from 11 countries, including China, Turkey, India, Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. 110 companies showcased their new projects and services during the exhibition. The convention program was attended by 450 delegates.
During the gala opening of several industrial events simultaneously taking place in ExpoForum, which were the Corrosion Protection International Exhibition & Congress, the Municipal Housing Complex of Russia International Exhibition, and the 12th Russian International Energy Forum, the last but not least was officially started by Alexey Eresko – Deputy Minister of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector of the Russian Federation, Sergey Kropachev – Vice Governor of St. Petersburg, Evgeny Razumishkin – Vice Governor of St. Petersburg, Dmitry Nikitin – CEO of RESTEC Exhibition Company, and Sergey Voronkov – CEO of ExpoForum International. Alexey Eresko outlined that the industries presented at ExpoForum are of importance, as the life quality of Russian citizens depends on them. According to Sergey Voronkov, the key goal pursued by the organisers is to turn the Russian International Energy Forum into an innovation display. ‘This is a meeting place where we can discuss new trends and our achievements, to talk about future-related issues and consider working with the young,’ he added.
During the official opening ceremony of RIEF 2024, its visitors and participants were presented the exhibition featuring Energy Heroes of Leningrad under the Siege, in which some of the Soviet state secrets were finally disclosed. The project became possible thanks to ExpoForum International and the Government of St. Petersburg. At this exhibition, everybody concerned had a chance to learn how power engineers had worked in besieged Leningrad to ensure energy supply in the city, and unveiled the story of the Leningrad energy system – how it had been established before the War and restored after.
At POWER & ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING Specialised Exhibition, Russian manufacturers presented lots of new products and projects for their local energy sector. The visitors were presented Russian-made metrological and electrotechnical equipment, accumulating systems, generation equipment, heat exchangers, accumulator batteries, electricity meters, automation and communication systems, sensors and controllers, all of them successfully replacing once popular foreign equivalents at Russian energy facilities and getting popular with Russian energy workers. In particular, there was the system for automation of electric energy facilities designed by Prosoft Systems, which enabled control over everything that happened in-situ. Its users can control the real parameters, like current, voltage, and temperature. Representatives of PLC Technology arranged their stands to demonstrate the system for cable lines monitoring, the digital substation, and the new rack switches in metal casing with faster data transmission rate. Matritsa Company presented a system solution that could be used to monitor all the metering devices powered by the substation, plus a modified series of smart electricity meters. Radar MMS exhibited their UAV – BVS VT-45 capable of 10 kg, which could be used for monitoring, prospecting, as well as search and rescue missions. Polimer-Ural, a Chelyabinsk-based plant, demonstrated heat-resistant multilayer pipes made of unique polymer materials and protected from mechanical damage. Spetskabel Plant presented their highly flexible mounting cable for the robotics industry.
Companies from the Near East and the South-Eastern Asia showed much interest in the Exhibition, which is indicative of the major prospects possessed by the Russian electricity energy machine engineering.
The collaborative stand of Harbin-based (Heilongjiang Province, China) industrial enterprises was established during RIEF 2024. There, 20 companies that belonged to the major sectors of the Province, including machine building and automotive industries, as well as the largest trade and logistic entities were presented.
‘In 2024, RIEF was the venue that reflected the new international economic landscape. Besides the Russian companies, 11 more countries took place in the event, including China, Turkey, India, Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. It has already become obvious that Russia can’t be isolated, as long as Russia, China, and India together make up the overall market of about 3 billion people. With regard to the human, production, technological, energy and other resources available in Russia and China, we can be sure that this market is absolutely self-sufficient and needs nobody else. Thus, RIEF 2024 is the territory of optimism,’ Sergey Voronkov highlighted.
The key event of the 12th Russian International Energy Forum was the Plenary Session RUSSIAN ENERGY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT IN MODERN CONDITIONS. NEW INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CHALLENGES, which was held as a discussion. Its participants gave consideration to the up-to-date matters associated with the current status of Russia’s energy sector – the ones related to its investment attractiveness, import substitution, switching to renewable energy sources, and tariff policy refinement.
Konstantin Simonov, CEO of the National Energy Security Fund, specified that the global issues of Russian energy development are to a certain extent connected with investments. This is where energy workers expect to be aided by the state.
According to Vladimir Tupikin, Head of Energy and Resources at SIBUR Holding and member of Supervisory Board at NP Market Council Association, the member of the Government Committee for Electric Energy Development, currently 45% of the Russian generation pool is the heritage from the Soviet era, which requires not upgrade but total replacement. These equipment pieces are deteriorated beyond any reasonable limits. ‘By 2050, we need to replace
the entire pool of energy equipment with its overall capacity of 90 GW, and do it not only on the account of gas turbines, but also with steam-power units,’ Mr. Tupikin outlined. In this area of concern, the financial aspect is of foremost importance, as changeover of equipment capable of 90 GW will require 30 billion rubles of investments.
Alexey Zhikharev, Director of the Renewable Energy Development Association and CEO at Ensolve stated that renewable energy sources like wind and sun can offer an alternative to conventional generation options, especially in the Far East. ‘This region is a good place for an emerging developing industry sector to prove its creditworthiness,’ Mr. Zhikharev is positive.
Moreover, participants of the Plenary Session agreed that shortcomings of the tariff policy hinder development of the electric energy sector. One of such stumbling blocks are cross subsidies – when a portion of payment for electricity consumed by the citizens is shifted to the industry. According to Boris Gladkikh, Member of the State Duma and Member of the State Duma Committee on Energy, this issue has been in place for more than a dozen years but raising tariff rate for the citizens isn’t feasible. ‘Consumers have to get why the tariff rates are raised, not just see them as some inevitably growing burden on their families’ finances,’ the Deputy explained. According to Mr. Gladkikh, such work should start with setting the rates of energy resources consumption for house properties. Moreover, those rates should differ depending on the region. Igor Kuzmin, CEO of Rosseti Lenenergo, agreed that the cross-subsidies issue keeps surging up, although ‘it isn’t as essential in our region.’
One more remarkable event on the convention agenda during RIEF 2024 was the round table discussion UP-TO-DATE ENERGY SAFETY AND ANTI-TERRORISM SECURITY TASKS AND MEANS AT FUEL AND ENERGY SITES. RELIABILITY AND AVAILABILITY OF ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE. Participants covered the questions of safety in the fuel and energy sector, talked about supervision in the energy industry against the background of the amendments made in the law and consolidation of net assets, which is seen as a factor of reliability and availability of the energy infrastructure.
Once again, the issue of cross-subsidies and their efficiency was raised during the DIFFERENTIATED TARIFFS IN THE ELECTRIC ENERGY INDUSTRY: RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES Session, as it is one of the most pressing in the electric energy sector. The experts presented a review on the tariff campaign results in the Russian regions and talked about effective mechanisms that could be used to reduce the cross-subsidies amount and yet retain special prices for those who really needed them.
While the industry-related events were being held in ExpoForum, the Business Matchmaking Centre worked, too, where over 1,700 meetings between suppliers and customers took place. As part of RIEF 2024, face-to-face meetings were arranged by representatives of Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, Russian Railways, Vodokanal of St. Petersburg, LOESK, OGK-2, Power Machines, Mosoblgaz, as well as other companies and enterprises.
At the same time with the Russian International Energy Forum, ExpoForum hosted the Corrosion Protection International Exhibition & Congress, and the Municipal Housing Complex of Russia International Exhibition. Such industrial events being held at the same time enabled experts from different spheres of economy to meet in one place and share their experience of doing business in the most essential sectors of the Russian economy as effectively as possible.
RIEF 2024 will be powered by the Government of St. Petersburg.
The partners of the project are companies PLC Technology and NPK Morsvyazavtomatica.
The general partner of the event – Power and Industry of Russia Newspaper. The general industrial information partner – Neftegaz.ru online portal. Official information partner – Elec.ru electro-technical web-portal. Official industrial information partner – Energy Policy public and business academic magazine. Strategic information partner – Camelot Publishing.
The event was organised by ExpoForum International.