RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (RES) AS A FACTOR DETERMINING THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCTIC ZONE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

ABSTRACT

Today, the increased focus on the Arctic zone is influenced by a number of reasons: The Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (the Russian Arctic) has the potential to become a new oil and gas region for our country; the military and strategic importance of the Arctic; the future outlook for the Northern Sea Route. The development of the Russian Arctic aims to enhance the social and economic growth of the region in line with the priorities set forth by the state policy and based on the range of socio-economic issues.
The bottleneck that limits further improvement of local settlements as well as construction of new industrial and infrastructure facilities is power, a vital component in the industrial infrastructure. Power supply is key to any infrastructure and greatly affects the quality of life and the possibility of developing a region. In general, the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation can offer significant energy resources, but individual areas are facing power shortage. The paper describes limitations and possibilities of implementing RES in the Russian Arctic; it substantiates the need to use RES in the environment of decentralized power supply; the paper also provides characteristics of the regions and potential RES consumers; it also considers prerequisites for putting RES into operation and analyzes the resources of wind and solar energy in the Arctic region.
Acknowledgement. The research was funded by the Russian Scientific Foundation, Project No. 17-78-20145, Social and Economic Levers for Mobilizing Human Resources to the Arctic Region of the Russian Federation. Saint-Petersburg Mining University.

Keywords: Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, socio-economic development, power industry, renewable energy sources