Business news

MINSK, 13 October (BelTA) – Belarus is mulling over electricity exports to Poland and the Baltic states, Belarus’ Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik said at the official opening ceremony of the 20^th Belarusian Energy and Ecology Forum on 13 October, BelTA has learned.

“Today we sell electricity in small volumes abroad. We get new opportunities with the ongoing modernization of our energy sector. Our product is competitive both on the domestic and foreign markets. We are actively working with our foreign partners. In particular, we are ready to offer our product to Poland and the Baltic states,” said the minister.

According to Vladimir Potupchik, the Energy Ministry is busy with addressing technical issues related to the organization of electricity exports. “We cannot offer our electricity to Russia and Ukraine. It is related to the cost of fuel on these markets among other things. Gas costs for the Belarusian power engineering sector is three times higher than in Russia. At the same time the prime cost of electricity is only 8% higher. It is a result of the ongoing modernization of the Belarusian energy system where we have already invested about $8.5 billion,” he stressed. According to the minister, a lot has been done in Belarus to reduce electricity imports.

According to the Energy Ministry, the electricity import almost halved in 2014 in comparison with 2012. The electricity import totaled 7.9 billion kWh in 2012, 6.7 billion kWh in 2013, 3.8 billion kWh in 2014. Last year Belarus exported nearly 500 million kWh. The country plans to export 2.8 billion kWh in 2015 and 2.5 billion kWh in 2016.

The 20^th Belarusian Energy and Ecology Forum is underway in Minsk on 13-16 October. This year the forum includes the international specialized exhibition Energy. Ecology. Energy Saving. Electro (EnergyExpo) and the energy and environmental congress. The forum will feature about 20 events. The forum is held simultaneously with the events of the 79^th IEC General Meeting.

The main goal of the Belarusian Energy and Ecology Forum is to demonstrate the latest scientific and technological achievements in the energy sector, energy saving, automatization, electronics, environmental protection, the use of renewable energy sources.