Dmitry Baranov, senior expert of Finam-Management

– Baltic NPP will help to solve one of the key problems of the region – to avoid energy crisis

Public hearings on the Baltic NPP project will take place in Neman, Kaliningrad region, on July 24 2009.

The construction of Baltic Nuclear Power Plant will have a big economic effect for Kaliningrad region and its neighbors. The hard state of this Russian exclave is urging our federal and regional authorities to do all they can to ensure its self-sufficiency. In such a situation, Baltic NPP will help to solve one of the key problems of the region: it will allow avoiding an energy crisis. Today the region is not short of energy but the local authorities say that the consumption of energy here will grow by 6%-8% a year and this may result in a real energy crisis in the long run. Even now in the face of the crisis this figure is growing. Presently, the region consumers 4bln KWh but produces just 2.8bln KWh. So, Baltic NPP will give the region the lacking energy. And if it produces more than the region will be able to consume, the surplus may be sold to Poland, Finland, Belarus, Sweden and Germany. It is not a coincidence that presently the European community is considering the possibility of integrating the energy system of Kaliningrad region into UCTE-CENTREL.  

But power generation is not the only benefit Baltic NPP can give. This project may help us to solve some political tasks. If Lithuania accepts Rosatom’s offer to co-finance the Baltic NPP project, it will get a cheap energy for its own needs, which is really crucial for that country now that it is forced to shut down its Ignalina NPP. This will certainly improve Lithuanian-Russian relations and will demonstrate Lithuania’s independence from the pressure of some European states and officials pulling Lithuania away from Russia in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The Baltic NPP project is an economically expedient venture. It will give the region budgetary revenues and new jobs. Lots of manufacturing companies in both nuclear and other sectors will get stable contracts. 

Thus, we can say that the construction of Baltic Nuclear Power Plant will benefit not only Kaliningrad region but the whole Russia and our neighbors. So, this project can and must be approved provided that its authors do everything to ensure it safety and efficiency.

The 1st unit of Baltic NPP is supposed to be launched in 2016.