ENERGY SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF RUSSIAN REGIONS AND ITS IMPACT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
V.I. Belov1,2
1Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Northwestern Institute of Management, St. Petersburg, Russia
2A.S. Pushkin Leningrad State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
Keywords: energy supply of regions, energy losses, typological grouping, energy efficiency, energy conservation incentives, imbalances in production-consumption models, regional energy policy
Abstract
Improving the energy efficiency of the constituent parts of the Russian Federation in the context of their sustainable development is fully in line with the global “green agenda " and, due to the adopted domestic regulatory documents, represents a state task. Sustainable development is subject to a number of conditions and factors, including the availability of regions’ own energy resources. Energy self-sufficiency in the general energy sense implies the self-sufficiency of regions not only in terms of electricity, but also in terms of other fuel and energy resources (coal, gas, oil, etc.). However, this article focuses on the issue of regional self-sufficiency in electricity. In this regard, the aim of the article is to construct typological groups of regions depending on the degree of influence on their sustainable development of such indicators as the region’s energy security and the share of energy losses in power grids. The study covers 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation based on data for 2022 and is based on a methodology developed by the author, which first involves assessing the country’s regions according to the analyzed indicators and then typologizing them. As a result, quantitative and qualitative parameters made it possible to form four groups of regions, differing in terms of sustainable development characteristics. In order to increase the level of sustainable development and energy efficiency of regions, authorities should adopt not typical but typological decisions for each identified group, taking into account the impact of the region’s energy self-sufficiency and energy losses on the gross regional product and gross regional product per capita. This study contributes theoretically to solving the scientific and practical problem of levelling energy imbalances in regional electricity production and consumption models. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the results obtained can be used by regional authorities in implementing energy policy in the region, and the proposed tools and mechanisms can be directly applied in their practical activities.
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