Elena Nikolaievna Chernolutskaia,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia, e‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Transition Difficulties: Development of Geothermal Energy in the Kuril Islands in the Context of Russian Market Reforms (1990–2000s)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-4-2
The article examines the controversial impact of Russian market reforms on the local energy supply system of the Kuril districts of the Sakhalin Region, representing the extreme island periphery of Russia. It is revealed that the conditions of the 1990s became the source of an acute protracted crisis in this industry, but they also gave impetus to the development of geothermal energy, which was not reaches in the Soviet period. The main factors that contributed to the transition to renewable energy sources in the Kuril Islands during the critical period of Russian history were identified, among them are the political will of a new cohort of regional leaders, the accumulated scientific potential of Sakhalin geothermists, the emergence of private companies that had a commercial interest in implementing large regional projects, financial support in the form of federal targeted programs. The nature, pace, contradictions of the first stage of construction of geothermal plants, which turned out to be too long due to financing problems and did not achieve a complete solution to the tasks set in the development programs of the Kuril Islands, are considered. The main obstacle to the implementation of projects was the discrepancy between the federal target programs of the 1990s and the real resources of the state. The result of the stage was the commissioning of the first two geothermal plants in the Kuril Islands – Mendeleevskaya (Kunashir Island) and Oceanskaya (Iturup Island), which made it possible to reduce the dependence on delivered fuel, partially stabilize and reduce the cost of energy supply, which was significant both for the manufacturing sector and for residents. However, it was not possible to achieve a complete transition to alternative energy, and the built geothermal plants turned out to be not trouble-free. The bulk of the energy in the Kuril Islands was still generated by diesel stations.
Publishing: 28/08/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 14/04/2023
How to cite: Chernolutskaia E.N. Transition Difficulties: Development of Geothermal Energy in the Kuril Islands in the Context of Russian Market Reforms (1990–2000s) // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 4 (30), pp. 22–35.[Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-3-02.pdf]
Links: Issue 4 2023
Keywords: Kuril Islands; Russian market reforms; energy supply crisis; geothermal energy; federal targeted programs