Abstract:

The experience and prospects for the use of alternative energy sources for the development of remote settlements in the Murmansk region have been considered in the paper.  The Murmansk region which is located in the Far North of the Russian Federation has a sufficient number of traditional power generators.  The region is energy-rich and exports energy to other regions of Russia and abroad.  At the same time, the authors draw attention to the fact that traditional power sources are often not able to ensure widespread and inexpensive availability of electricity, especially in some remote rural settlements. Therefore, projects of supplying these territories from traditional power sources of generation and distribution of energy are inexpedient. The only way out in this case is alternative power engineering. Main advantages of alternative power generators are as follows. Firstly, the generators are located locally and do not require some developed system of power distribution.  Secondly, there is low risk of the environment caused harm.  In the present article, the authors consider the experience of using alternative energy sources in the Murmansk region: wind energy, solar energy, kinetic energy of water, tidal energy.  The prospects for using alternative energy sources in the Murmansk region for providing energy to rural areas have been assessed.  The opportunities for using alternative energy sources in the Murmansk region have been considered as well. The authors have concluded that the possibilities and prospects for the development of alternative power engineering exist.  It has been proven that the best result for the development of remote and sparsely populated settlements can be provided by power generation using such alternative power sources as wind and solar generators