Firewood and coal will still be heating homes for decades to come but their share in energy provision will decline, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said in an interview on Soloviev LIVE TV social media channel on Monday.
Asked about the energy environment in the next half century, the senior government official also predicted that “hydropower will remain, one way or another.”
“An insignificant share of traditional hydrocarbon energy sources will remain as well,” Novak, who is a former energy minister, noted. “Even coal and firewood along with oil and gas will be used, though their shares will decrease.”
He stressed that the EU is currently returning to coal-fired power generation due to the “ineffective and unreasonable decisions” to abandon Russian gas, which he described as “a highly environmentally friendly, cheap and reliable resource.”
According to Novak, introduction of new energy capacities based on solar and wind generation will increase in the coming years.
Last year, the Deputy PM said that Moscow was rerouting the supply of more than 25 million tons of Russian coal from the EU to Asia, due to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
China has become one of the main buyers of Russian coal after the European Union completely stopped purchasing the commodity from Russia last year.
Back then, the European Commission estimated that the embargo would affect a quarter of all Russian coal exports, worth over $8 billion annually. Last year, Russia shipped over seven million tons of coal to China.
In May, the Siberian Coal Energy Company, Russia’s largest coal supplier, announced plans for a threefold increase of supplies to the neighbouring state. The company expects to deliver up to 20 million tons of coal to China this year.
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