The history of the development of the power plant transport and distribution of electricity. Modern systems of electric power industry. Assessment of the ongoing reform of the electric power industry

overcoming the existing imbalances in the electric power industry in order to maintain high and sustainable economic growth rates in the long term;

increasing the efficiency of production, transmission and consumption of electricity based on the latest highly efficient environmentally friendly technologies.

As a result of the reform of the electric power industry, the competitive ones - the production and sale of electric energy, as well as the natural monopoly ones - the transmission of electric energy and operational dispatch control in the electric power industry, were separated from the previously considered monopoly industry.

The development of the economy in the long term is characterized by an increase in electricity consumption from 2007 to 2015 by an average of 3.8 - 4 percent per year with a decrease to 3.6 - 3.7 percent in 2016 - 2020 due to structural shifts in favor of less electrically intensive industries and activation of energy saving measures.

To ensure the indicated growth rates of electricity production and consumption, taking into account the need to create sufficient reserve capacities, it will be necessary to provide consumers with access to electricity supply services and commission energy capacities in 2007-2020 in the amount of 120-200 million kW.

In the period up to 2011, the gradual liberalization of the wholesale electricity and capacity market will continue, bringing the share of electricity and capacity sold at free prices to 100 percent in 2011, except for the supply of electricity and capacity in non-price zones and supplies to the population.

It is planned to launch a long-term capacity market, designed to ensure the construction of generating capacities in the optimal volume to meet demand and create the necessary reserve.

In the period up to 2014, it is planned to bring electricity tariffs for the population to the market level in order to eliminate cross-subsidization between the population and other consumers with increased targeted protection of low-income groups of the population.

Starting from 2010, in the regulated sectors of the power industry (in distribution grid companies from 2009, in transmission companies - from 2010) there will be a transition to setting long-term tariffs (at least 5 years) using the return on invested capital method. This method provides a return on invested capital and return on it at a level comparable to the level of income in other sectors of the economy, and is aimed at stimulating private investment in the regulated electricity sector. The use of long-term tariffs encourages organizations in the regulated sector of the economy to reduce costs and technological losses in relation to the established level. In addition to electricity and heat supply, the method of return on invested capital will be applied in other infrastructure sectors, including utilities. Combining the energy systems of the Center, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East with direct and alternating current transmissions at ultra-high voltage will ensure the large-scale development of coal basins and the development of the hydro potential of the eastern regions of the Russian Federation. Already in 2009 and 2010, research and analysis of the macroeconomic effects of the implementation of this method will be carried out.

To achieve the target parameters for the development of the electric power industry, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:

balanced development of the electric power industry, creation of an optimal, economically justified structure of generating capacities and electric grid facilities in it in order to reliably provide the country's consumers with electricity and heat;

diversification of the fuel balance of the electric power industry through the development of nuclear and coal generation, the use of hydro potential, as well as the potential of other renewable sources, with a corresponding decrease in the share of gas generation in the fuel balance of the industry;

creation of a network infrastructure that ensures the full participation of energy companies in the electricity and capacity market, strengthening of interconnections for the transit of electricity and capacity to deficit regions of Russia, development of electricity exports;

minimizing losses in electrical and heat networks, as well as reducing the specific fuel consumption for the production of electricity and heat through the introduction of advanced technologies and modern highly economical equipment;

implementation of a phased reduction in the levels of impact on the environment of power industry facilities through the introduction of the best environmentally friendly world technologies in the construction of new and reconstruction of existing power industry enterprises;

preservation and development of personnel potential of the electric power industry;

formation of a state system for managing the development of the electric power industry based on a combination of market and state mechanisms;

ensuring a significant increase in investment in the electric power industry for large-scale commissioning of new energy capacities and replacement of obsolete equipment;

ensuring the availability of consumers' connection to electric networks;

The electric power industry is the basic industry, the development of which is an indispensable condition for the development of the economy and other spheres of society. The world produces about 13,000 billion kW / h, of which only the United States accounts for up to 25%. Over 60% of the world's electricity is produced at thermal power plants (in the USA, Russia and China - 70-80%), approximately 20% - at hydroelectric power plants, 17% - at nuclear power plants (in France and Belgium - 60%, Sweden and Switzerland - 40-45%).

Norway (28 thousand kWh per year), Canada (19 thousand), Sweden (17 thousand) are the most provided with electricity per capita.

The electric power industry, together with the fuel industries, including the exploration, production, processing and transportation of energy sources, as well as the electric energy itself, forms the most important fuel and energy complex (FEC) for the economy of any country. About 40% of the world's primary energy resources are used to generate electricity. In a number of countries, the main part of the fuel and energy complex belongs to the state (France, Italy, etc.), but in many countries mixed capital plays the main role in the fuel and energy complex.

The electric power industry is engaged in the production of electricity, its transportation and distribution. The peculiarity of the electric power industry is that its products cannot be accumulated for subsequent use: the production of electricity at any given time must correspond to the size of consumption, taking into account the needs of the power plants themselves and losses in the networks. Therefore, communications in the electric power industry have constancy, continuity and are carried out instantly.

The electric power industry has a great impact on the territorial organization of the economy: it allows the development of fuel and energy resources in remote eastern and northern regions; the development of main high-voltage lines contributes to a freer location of industrial enterprises; large hydroelectric power plants attract energy-intensive industries; in the eastern regions, the electric power industry is a branch of specialization and serves as the basis for the formation of territorial production complexes.

It is believed that for the normal development of the economy, the growth in electricity production should outstrip the growth in production in all other industries. Industry consumes most of the generated electricity. In terms of electricity production (1015.3 billion kWh in 2007), Russia ranks fourth after the USA, Japan and China.

In terms of electricity generation, the Central Economic Region (17.8% of the total Russian production), Eastern Siberia (14.7%), the Urals (15.3%) and Western Siberia (14.3%) stand out. Moscow and the Moscow Region, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, the Irkutsk Region, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and the Sverdlovsk Region are leaders in electricity generation among the subjects of the Russian Federation. Moreover, the electric power industry of the Center and the Urals is based on imported fuel, while the Siberian regions work on local energy resources and transmit electricity to other regions.

The electric power industry of modern Russia is mainly represented by thermal power plants operating on natural gas, coal and fuel oil; in recent years, the share of natural gas in the fuel balance of power plants has been increasing. About 1/5 of domestic electricity is generated by hydroelectric power plants and 15% by nuclear power plants.

Thermal power plants operating on low-quality coal, as a rule, gravitate towards the places of its extraction. For oil-fired power plants, their optimal location is near oil refineries. Due to the relatively low cost of its transportation, gas-fired power plants are predominantly gravitated towards the consumer. And first of all, power plants of large and large cities are switching to gas, since it is a cleaner fuel in environmental terms than coal and fuel oil. Thermal power plants (which produce both heat and electricity) gravitate towards the consumer regardless of the fuel they operate on (the coolant cools down quickly during transmission over a distance).

The largest thermal power plants with a capacity of more than 3.5 million kW each are Surgutskaya (in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), Reftinskaya (in the Sverdlovsk region) and Kostromskaya GRES. Kirishskaya (near St. Petersburg), Ryazanskaya (Central region), Novocherkasskaya and Stavropolskaya (Northern Caucasus), Zainskaya (Volga region), Reftinskaya and Troitskaya (Urals), Nizhnevartovskaya and Berezovskaya in Siberia have a capacity of more than 2 million kW.

Geothermal power plants, using the deep heat of the Earth, are tied to an energy source. In Russia, Pauzhetskaya and Mutnovskaya GTES operate in Kamchatka.

Hydroelectric power plants are very efficient sources of electricity. They use renewable resources, are easy to manage and have a very high efficiency (over 80%). Therefore, the cost of electricity produced by them is 5-6 times lower than at thermal power plants.

Hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) are most economically built on mountain rivers with a large elevation difference, while on flat rivers, large reservoirs are required to maintain a constant water pressure and reduce dependence on seasonal fluctuations in water volumes. For a more complete use of the hydropower potential, cascades of hydroelectric power stations are being built. In Russia, hydropower cascades have been created on the Volga and Kama, the Angara and the Yenisei. The total capacity of the Volga-Kama cascade is 11.5 million kW. And it includes 11 power plants. The most powerful are Volzhskaya (2.5 million kW) and Volgogradskaya (2.3 million kW). There are also Saratov, Cheboksary, Votkinskaya, Ivankovskaya, Uglichskaya and others.

Even more powerful (22 million kW) is the Angara-Yenisei cascade, which includes the largest hydroelectric power plants in the country: Sayanskaya (6.4 million kW), Krasnoyarsk (6 million kW), Bratskaya (4.6 million kW) , Ust-Ilimskaya (4.3 million kW).

Tidal power plants use the energy of high tides in a bay cut off from the sea. In Russia, an experimental Kislogubskaya TPP operates off the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula.

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) use highly transportable fuel. Given that 1 kg of uranium replaces 2.5 thousand tons of coal, it is more expedient to place nuclear power plants near the consumer, primarily in areas lacking other types of fuel. The world's first nuclear power plant was built in 1954 in the city of Obninsk (Kaluga region). Now there are 8 nuclear power plants in Russia, of which the most powerful are Kursk and Balakovo (Saratov region) with 4 million kW each. In the western regions of the country there are also Kola, Leningrad, Smolensk, Tver, Novovoronezh, Rostov, Beloyarsk. In Chukotka - Bilibino ATEC.

The most important trend in the development of the electric power industry is the unification of power plants in power systems that produce, transmit and distribute electricity between consumers. They are a territorial combination of power plants of different types, operating on a common load. Combining power plants into power systems contributes to the ability to choose the most economical load mode for different types of power plants; in the conditions of a large extent of the state, the existence of standard time and the mismatch of peak loads in certain parts of such power systems, it is possible to maneuver the production of electricity in time and space and transfer it as needed in opposite directions.

Currently, the Unified Energy System (UES) of Russia is functioning. It includes numerous power plants of the European part and Siberia, which operate in parallel, in a single mode, concentrating more than 4/5 of the total capacity of the country's power plants. In the regions of Russia east of Lake Baikal, small isolated power systems operate.

The energy strategy of Russia for the next decade provides for the further development of electrification through the economically and environmentally sound use of thermal power plants, nuclear power plants, hydroelectric power plants and non-traditional renewable types of energy, as well as improving the safety and reliability of existing nuclear power units.

In Russia, after the collapse of the USSR in the period up to 2000, investment in the industry dropped sharply. At the same time, the conservation of stations, the construction of which was already underway, was observed. At this very time, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 923 of August 15, 1992 "On the organization of management of the electric power complex of the Russian Federation in the conditions of privatization", RAO "UES of Russia" was created, which began its activities on December 31, 1992. Nuclear power plants came under the control of Rosenergoatom. Irkutskenergo, Bashkirenergo, Tatenergo, and Novosibirskenergo were also not included in RAO UES. Gradually, a systemic crisis, generated by the economic situation in the country, began to be observed in a complex economy. In accordance with the new development concept, the team Chubais It was decided to carry out a reform of the RAO EU, the purpose of which was to break up the unified power grid and create a number of private generating and sales companies. It was believed that this would launch the mechanism of competition and investments in the amount of 4.375 trillion rubles (in current prices) would come into the industry.

However, disintegration, according to a number of experts, had a negative impact on the electric power industry as a whole. In particular, the chief engineer of the RAO EU in 1994-1996 Victor Curly predicted an increase in the accident rate in connection with this reform, which, in fact, is currently observed. The utilization factor of the installed capacity of the GRES has also decreased. Hopes for capital investments and stabilization of tariffs did not come true.

Introduction

The reform of the electric power industry in Russia, which our contemporaries are witnessing, is due to rather serious prerequisites. It is important to note that as early as the 1980s, signs of stagnation began to appear in the country's electric power industry: production capacities were updated much more slowly than electricity consumption grew. Later, in the 90s, during the period of the general economic crisis in Russia, the volume of electricity consumption decreased significantly, at the same time, the process of capacity renewal practically stopped.

By the beginning of the last quarter of the 90s of the last century, the general situation in the industry was characterized by the following facts:

1. In terms of technological indicators (specific fuel consumption, average efficiency of equipment, operating capacity of stations, etc.), Russian energy companies lagged behind their counterparts in developed countries.
2. There were no incentives to increase efficiency, rational planning of electricity production and consumption regimes, and energy saving.
3. In some regions, there were power outages, an energy crisis was observed, and there was a high probability of major accidents.
4. There was no payment discipline, non-payments were widespread.
5. Industry enterprises were informationally and financially non-transparent.
6. Access to the market was closed to new, independent players.

All this caused the need for transformations in the electric power industry, which would create incentives for improving the efficiency of energy companies and would significantly increase the volume of investments in the industry. Otherwise, with the further expansion of foreign economic cooperation, Russian enterprises would lose economic competition not only in foreign markets, but also in the domestic market of the country.

With the appointment of A. Chubais to the post of Chairman of the Board of RAO "UES of Russia" in 1998, a course towards market changes in the industry was declared, the goals and objectives of the reform in the electric power industry were proclaimed. The main goal of reforming the electric power industry in Russia is to increase the efficiency of enterprises in the industry, create conditions for its development based on stimulating investments, and ensure reliable and uninterrupted power supply to consumers. In this regard, radical changes are taking place in the Russian electric power industry: the system of state regulation of the industry is changing, a competitive electricity market is being formed, new companies are created.

In the course of the reform, the structure of the industry is changing: the division of natural monopoly functions (transmission of electricity through main transmission lines, distribution of electricity through low-voltage transmission lines and operational dispatch control) and potentially competitive (generation and sale of electricity, repair and service) is carried out, and instead of the former vertically integrated companies ( they are usually called "AO-energo"), performing all these functions, structures are created that specialize in certain types of activities.

It is assumed that generating, supplying and repair companies in the future will become predominantly private and will compete with each other. In the natural monopoly spheres, on the contrary, there is a strengthening of state control. Thus, conditions are created for the development of a competitive electricity market, the prices of which are not regulated by the state, but are formed on the basis of supply and demand, and its participants compete, reducing their costs.

The companies formed in the course of the reform are enterprises specialized in certain types of activities (generation, transmission of electricity, etc.) and controlling the relevant core assets. In terms of the scale of their core activities, the newly created companies surpass the former monopolies at the regional level: the new companies unite the core enterprises of several regions, or are all-Russian.

Thus, backbone grids are coming under the control of the Federal Grid Company, distribution grids are supposed to be integrated into interregional distribution grid companies (IDGCs), the functions and assets of regional dispatching departments are transferred to the all-Russian System Operator. Generation assets are also combined into interregional companies, and of two types: market (wholesale generating companies - WGCs) and territorial generating companies (TGCs). OGKs unite power plants specialized in the production of almost exclusively electrical energy. TGCs mainly comprise combined heat and power plants (CHPs), which produce both electricity and heat. Six of the seven OGKs are formed on the basis of thermal power plants, and one (Hydro-OGK) is formed on the basis of the country's hydro generating assets. Thermal WGCs are built on an extraterritorial basis, while TGCs combine stations in neighboring regions.

Thus, the adopted reformation option is based on the principle of “horizontal” division of the electric power industry, in which generating, sales, network, service, and other companies are formed in place of “classical” vertically integrated companies - AO-energos. At the same time, at the initial stage The authors of the reform also considered an alternative version of the "vertical" division of the electric power industry, which provides for the creation of about eight large vertically integrated companies. However, this option remained on paper.

The fact remains undoubted that the results of the reform for the country, its economic and social consequences have not yet come, we can only speak about them presumably. This is due to the fact that state regulation mechanisms are still preserved in the electric power industry and RAO "UES of Russia" as a coordinator and guarantor of reforms will exist until mid-2008. At the same time, a number of businessmen, researchers and professional power engineers, for example, A. Branis, M Gelman, V. Kudryavy and others, at various times critically assessed the ideology of the reform, drew the attention of the state, shareholders and the public to negative corporate, economic and social consequences. Indeed, the energy supply problems that arose in 2003 in the United States - in a country where the electricity market has been functioning for many years and where the role of state regulators is strong - are a signal that the electricity industry is a complex mechanism, and the market is not a universal panacea.

In connection with the above, it is advisable to consider the key aspects of the reform of the electric power industry in our country in the context of the forecasts and conclusions of both the authors of the reform and its opponents.

Chapter 1. Modern electric power systems

1.1. World trends in the electric power industry

In recent years, radical transformations have taken place in the Russian electric power industry: a new legal and regulatory framework and a regulatory system are being formed, the structure of the industry is changing, and a competitive electricity market is gradually being formed. Thus, Russia is embarking on the path of most developed countries that are currently or have already carried out reforms in the electric power industry, seeking to adapt it to the conditions of the modern economy.

The need for change in the power industry became apparent at the end of the last century. Until the 1990s in most countries of the world, this industry was a natural monopoly. Vertically integrated companies (combining the production, transmission and sale of electricity) had a legal monopoly on a national scale or on the scale of individual regions. Tariffs for their services were usually set or limited by the state. Such a system for a long time satisfactorily met the needs of the economy. However, under the conditions of a significant increase in the cost of hydrocarbon fuel (since the 1970s) and the outpacing growth in electricity consumption, the former monopolies turned out to be insufficiently effective. They often did not have time to respond to changes in demand, it was too expensive for them to maintain existing capacities and commission new ones. At the same time, any additional costs of such companies were included in their tariffs and automatically borne by consumers. The situation was complicated by the fact that in many countries environmental legislation was tightened, which required an accelerated modernization of energy capacities - perhaps the main polluters of the environment.

The liberalization of the electric power industry was facilitated by various processes, including those occurring outside this industry:

1. The development of gas turbine technologies, along with an increase in the production of natural gas and the removal of restrictions in some countries on its use for electricity generation, has led to the spread of highly efficient and relatively inexpensive generation technologies.
2. The increased requirements for energy efficiency and "environmental cleanliness" of production pushed for the modernization of energy capacities and the development of networks.
3. The development of networks, and, above all, interconnections (high-voltage main lines between previously closed energy systems), as well as information technologies, metering and control tools, contributed to the increase and complexity of energy flows, created new opportunities for competition between wholesale energy suppliers.
4. The growing economic and political integration of regions and neighboring countries (in particular, the EU states, North America) also contributed to the development of wholesale electricity markets.

As a result, some states began to reconsider their attitude to natural monopoly in the electric power industry, and began to allow elements of competition in this industry. This was achieved either by separating the monopolies, with the separation of competing companies from them, or by admitting new participants to the industry - independent electricity producers, or by both. The new structure of the industry required new rules of the game. In order for an independent producer to be truly independent and be able to sell its electricity, it needed access to the electricity transportation infrastructure and the ability to independently set prices. The norms necessary for this were provided for in the legislation of a number of states. As a result, a free electricity market emerged in some countries, where prices were set on the basis of supply and demand. A competitive market was first launched in 1990 in England and Wales, and an unrestricted competition regime on the wholesale electricity market was introduced for the first time in history in 1991 in Norway.

With all the differences in industry models and ways to reform it, Europe, the United States and a number of other regions of the world are taking similar steps to liberalize the electric power industry: distinguishing between naturally monopoly (electricity transmission, operational dispatch control) and potentially competitive (generation, marketing) types of activities, de-monopolization of the industry with the parallel development of antimonopoly regulation, the introduction of non-discriminatory access to infrastructure for independent electricity suppliers, the liberalization of electricity markets. However, there are not so many states that have completely opened the market for competition; these include Sweden, Norway, Finland, Great Britain, New Zealand and a number of others. The European Union as a whole is striving for similar standards, whose legislation requires the full opening by July 1, 2007 of the national electricity markets of most member countries of this organization. The development of competitive wholesale markets throughout the country is also one of the priorities of the US energy strategy. A competitive wholesale electricity market already operates in several regions of the country, and retail electricity is being liberalized in many states.

Thus, to a greater or lesser extent, transformations in the electric power industry have become a global trend that has affected most of the developed and a number of developing countries of the world. The liberalization of the industry and its technological development lead to a qualitative expansion of markets: in Europe and North America, they have already crossed the boundaries of individual energy systems and even national borders and are acquiring an interregional and international scale. In this regard, the transformations taking place in the Russian electric power industry, of course, fit into the global trend.

1.2. Unified energy system of Russia and its crisis

The Unified Energy System (UES) of Russia is one of the oldest in Europe, it was originally created as a common source of electricity for a significant part of the regions of the Soviet Union. Russia is located in eight time zones, so the same power plants can consistently serve different regions in several zones as they alternate between day and night. This opportunity was realized thanks to the creation of the EEC. Researchers note that 1956, in which a large hydroelectric power plant, the Kuibyshevskaya HPP, was put into operation, is considered to be the year the UES began functioning in the Soviet Union.

The UES is a kind of system of energy pools of two levels. The first level - all-Russian - is formed by six large interconnected basins located in the European part of the country, Siberia and Transbaikalia, that is, within six time zones. These pools are called "unified energy systems", which today are still subdivisions of RAO "UES of Russia". They are filled with electricity from large power plants located inside them, operating in parallel, that is, as a single generator. Each of these pools is located approximately within the boundaries of a particular federal district and supplies electricity to a group of smaller regional pools, which represent the corresponding regional energy systems. Most of them also have their own parallel power plants, but less powerful than in large basins - these are mainly combined heat and power plants (CHP) that produce both heat and electricity. Moreover, only a few regional basins can fully provide their consumers with their own sources, while the rest are fed to one degree or another from the corresponding large basins.

The UES was based on principles that ensure high reliability of power supply to all consumers while reducing its overall system cost as much as possible. Reliability was achieved by the pool principle and parallel operation of all power plants. Due to the power flows within the basins and between them, a general reserve of capacities was simultaneously created. Therefore, the failure of any station, as a rule, did not lead to the disconnection of consumers.

Minimization of the cost of electricity was achieved by a comprehensive reduction of all costs in the system:

1. This was facilitated by the very principle of communicating pools, thanks to which the same power plants alternately supply electricity to regions located in different time zones - it flows between the pools as the load changes in them. At the same time, such an economically efficient mode of loading of each station was chosen, when the specific fuel consumption is minimal. In addition, the common pool allows you to reduce the maximum required power in it, since the peak loads of individual consumers, in the general case, do not coincide in time and are averaged. Thus, it was possible to save approximately 20 million kW of generating capacities, which would have been needed additionally if the regions were self-sufficient, including reserve capacities.
2. The cost of electricity is minimized by reducing the range of its flows - they are mainly organized between pairs of adjacent communicating pools, that is, according to the principle of operation of locks. Therefore, the costs for the construction of long-distance transmission lines (TL) have decreased, as well as the loss of electricity, which grows with the length of the transmission line and the transmission distance. This was facilitated by the location of many stations near large consumers. Thus, it is economically expedient to transfer no more than 3-4% of the total capacity of its power plants to the UES over a distance of more than 800-1000 km.
3. The cost of electricity in the basins was reduced due to the priority use of stations with the cheapest electricity and the establishment of weighted average tariffs when mixing energy of different costs. In Soviet times, there were two constant weighted average tariffs - 2 kopecks per 1 kWh for industry and 4 kopecks for the population and the public utilities.

The UES, which covered a significant part of the territory of the Soviet Union, was indeed a common energy supply system. At the same time, unified average weighted tariffs excluded, in particular, preferences or rents for any of the consumers due to closer location to the source of the cheapest electricity, which was not a merit or result of the actions of these consumers. And the higher tariff for the population and utilities was due to the large number of “redistributions” of voltage - the final one is 220 V - and the need to maintain, in addition to high-voltage networks to which industrial enterprises are connected, also extensive low-voltage distribution networks.

All of the above principles and advantages of the UES were implemented due to the fact that its organizational structure of management and management fully corresponded to the technological "basin" structure. Technological and organizational unity made it possible to centrally manage power plants and power flows “from top to bottom” within a single economic entity, guided by the system-wide reliability criteria described above and the rules for minimizing the cost of electricity supply to consumers.

The technological management of the UES was carried out by a single dispatch service, the Central Dispatch Office (CDU), which continuously solved the problem of optimizing the transmission and distribution of electricity, aimed at maintaining minimal costs in the system. For this, the CDU regulated the flows between the communicating basins and controlled the stations that filled them. The flows within the "large" basins were controlled by their dispatching services - joint dispatching departments, and within the regional systems their respective dispatching departments operated.

Technological and organizational integrity, combined with the unity of management of the UES "from top to bottom" were due not only to the need to achieve maximum reliability and economic efficiency of electricity supply to consumers, which, however, is interpreted today by some researchers and authors of the adopted concept of reform of the electric power industry, as a relic of socialism, but also physical the essence of electricity. The fact is that electricity is a virtual commodity that cannot be stored, it is transmitted through wires at the speed of light and must be immediately consumed as it is produced. Thus, the production, transmission, distribution and consumption of electricity as a physically unified, indivisible and fast-flowing process requires technological and organizational unity within the framework of an integral energy system.

Researchers note that many of the advantages of the UES after the corporatization and privatization of the electric power industry in 1992-1993. remained in the past when the organizational unity of the system was destroyed. Instead of a single, albeit insufficiently effective, economic entity represented by the Ministry of Energy, a holding company RAO "UES of Russia" was formed, which includes more than 80 subsidiaries of regional vertically integrated companies - AO-energos. As M. Gelman notes: “At the same time, signboards with the name “Federal Wholesale Electricity and Power Market” (FOREM) were nailed over the entrances to the communicating pools, attaching to it as suppliers large power plants - thermal and hydraulic (TPPs and HPPs), which also became subsidiaries of RAO RAO " UES". But the market did not emerge. And it is clear why - a natural monopoly is not adapted to it in principle. And the once economically and technically prosperous large power plants, in particular thermal ones, operating on FOREM, fell into decay.” .

The reasons for the incident lie in the departure from the previous systemic principles and criteria for supplying consumers with electricity and replacing them with the commercial interests of many small regional energy systems - AO-energos. It has become more profitable for AO-energos to primarily use their own stations located within the respective regional basins. These stations are less powerful than in FOREM and generate more expensive electricity, from the sale of which they receive more revenue and profit in absolute terms. For this reason, the management of electricity production and its flows now took place without the prevalence of system-wide interests and economic optimization. In the Soviet Union, regional (local) stations, which mainly included thermal power plants, were operated for the most part only during the cold season, when thermal energy was required, and the demand for electricity increased. Today, such CHPs in many settlements often operate in the summer, heating the environment with unclaimed heat, for which a lot of fuel is wasted, and the consumer pays the resulting costs. As a result of this, the extraction of electricity from FOREM, with such an optimization of their own profits by regional energy systems, has sharply decreased. The average annual load of the largest thermal stations on FOREM with a total capacity of 51.8 GW, which operated at almost full capacity in the early 90s, in the third quarter of the 90s. slightly exceeded half of their capacity, although their capacity is almost a quarter of all generating capacity. The half-loading of large thermal power plants caused an increase in the unit costs of electricity generation, which sharply worsened their economic situation, which led to a deterioration in the technical condition of these stations.

It should be noted that “small-town” efficiency optimization was encouraged by regional administrations that control regional energy commissions, which are given the right to independently regulate tariffs locally. There is an obvious dependence: the greater the revenue and profit of AO-energos, which increase when selling their own electricity, which is more expensive than on FOREM, the greater the amount of taxes in absolute terms goes to the budgets of all levels.

Thus, the result of a short-sighted, based on economic criteria, corporatization of the electric power industry in 1992-1993. and the rejection of the previous principles of optimal regulation of the UES, the beginning of crisis processes and phenomena in the Russian electric power industry, which was greatly exacerbated by the total crisis of non-payments that fettered the domestic economy in 1995-98. The main negative points include the following: low efficiency and high energy intensity of production; lack of incentives to improve production efficiency; increased power outages and accidents; low investment attractiveness and non-transparency of business; the lag in the rate of commissioning of new capacities from the rate of growth in electricity consumption, etc. Based on the foregoing, the expediency of carrying out weighted reforms in the electric power industry by the beginning of 1998 was, in the opinion of many researchers, an indisputable fact.

Chapter 2. Power industry reform: goals and objectives

2.1. The official concept of the reform

Management of RAO "UES of Russia" together with the Government of the Russian Federation during 1998-2003. a conceptual and legislative framework was prepared for reforming the company. Specially designed for this purpose Concept of the Strategy of OAO RAO "UES of Russia" for 2003-2008. "5+5" assumes that the process of reforming the companies that are part of the RAO "UES of Russia" holding will take 3 years, and by 2006 all the main subjects of the industry will be separated from RAO "UES of Russia". After that, it will take another 2 years to finalize them and complete corporate procedures. As a result, in 5 years (in 2008) the target structure of the industry will be formed.

The main goals of reforming the electric power industry are:

1. Increasing the efficiency of electric power enterprises;
2. Creation of conditions for the development of the industry based on private investment.

The main objectives of the reform are as follows:

1. Division of the industry into natural monopoly (mainly transmission and distribution of electricity, dispatching) and competitive (electricity generation, sales) activities;
2. Creation of a system of effective market relations in competitive activities;
3. Ensuring non-discriminatory access to the services of natural monopolies;
4. Efficient and fair state regulation of natural monopolies, creating incentives to reduce costs and ensuring the investment attractiveness of natural monopolies.

1. Ensuring reliable and uninterrupted power supply to conscientious consumers of electricity and heat in the short and long term.
2. Ensuring a balance between the fulfillment of the interests of the company's owners, the state and other stakeholders, including consumers of products and services produced in the industry and company employees.

The implementation of reforming the electric power industry would be impossible without the formation of an appropriate legal framework. In this regard, the Government of the Russian Federation developed and submitted to the State Duma a package of bills regulating the reform of the electric power industry and RAO "UES of Russia", setting the main contours and principles of the functioning of the electric power industry in the future in a competitive environment and limited state interference in economic relations. Thus, the law “On the Electric Power Industry” was adopted, as well as laws that amend and supplement existing laws: “On State Regulation of Tariffs for Electricity and Heat in the Russian Federation”, “On Natural Monopolies”, “On Energy Saving”. Changes were also made to the Civil Code.

Territorial generating companies (TGCs) are companies created on the basis of generating assets of AO-energos (with the exception of stations included in WGCs), consolidated on a regional basis. All fourteen TGKs, unlike OGKs, have different installed capacities ranging from 1 to 11 GW. A number of TGCs, in addition to generating stations, will also include assets of thermal networks and boiler houses. In addition, integration with municipal enterprises in the field of heat supply is possible. TGCs may also subsequently include sales divisions formed as part of business diversification for the purpose of financial hedging in case of price fluctuations in the electricity and heat market.

3. Sales companies.

As a result of the reorganization of AO-energos, sales companies were created, which are expected to act as last resort suppliers. If these companies are not assigned the status of a supplier of last resort, they will be engaged in competitive sales activities. Competitive sales companies will also be created by independent organizations and will carry out activities for the sale of electricity to end consumers.

The target structure of the electric power industry in the field of service activities, science and design was formed as early as 2005 through the sale of blocks of shares in the relevant enterprises that were previously part of the RAO UES of Russia holding. A service market will function within the target structure, the participants of which will be independent repair and service companies also operating in other industries (including metallurgy, mechanical engineering, oil and gas industry). The reform of the scientific and design complex (RPC) was focused on the creation of complex companies engaged in engineering activities for generating, grid and other companies in the electric power industry, as well as other industries (public utilities, large-scale industry), today it is also completed.

electricity markets. The authors of the reform note that the need to accept as restrictions on the market the specifics of the distribution of electricity in the energy system, as well as a fairly strong relationship between different territories of Russia, the need and effectiveness of centralized regimes lead to the formation of a single, centralized wholesale electricity market in the European territory of Russia, the Urals and Siberia (with the exception of isolated power systems located in these territories). The wholesale market is based on commercial, free and competitive purchase and sale relations between sellers and buyers of electricity. Through this market, all volumes of electricity produced in these territories are traded.

The electricity trading market consists of three sectors, separated by time, but related by the formation of the final (actual) volumes of production and consumption of electricity, sectors:

1. sector of long- and medium-term bilateral financial contracts,
2. day ahead market
3. balancing market.

In the process of buying and selling electricity in all the indicated sectors of the wholesale electricity market, not only the commercial preferences of the participants are taken into account, but also their feasibility when maintaining modes, as well as losses of electricity dependent on the modes during its transmission. This gives the most accurate definition of the value of electricity at each point of production and consumption of electricity.

In addition to the above three sectors of the wholesale market, if it is necessary to further stimulate the investment process in the generating sector of the industry, as well as smooth out price fluctuations, a capacity market (or capacity fee) can be introduced to provide additional stable medium-term income to electricity producers.

The main infrastructure organizations that ensure the functioning of the wholesale market are:

1. Trading system administrator (ATS) - in terms of organizing a centralized platform for the purchase and sale of electricity and ensuring its functioning;
2. System operator - in terms of operational dispatch control;
3. Grid companies - in terms of transmission of electricity and taking measures to reduce electricity losses, which is achieved by requiring payment of excess electricity losses at the expense of these companies.

All electricity suppliers must participate in the market and provide all the operating capacity of their generating units. Electricity buyers in the wholesale market are any end consumers and energy sales companies that meet the requirements for the minimum volume of electricity purchases, as well as guaranteeing suppliers.

Competitive retail electricity market should have the following main features:

1. Freely set unregulated prices. Due to the fact that the energy retail companies and the Guaranteed Supplier will buy electricity in the wholesale market, the price of which fluctuates regardless of their individual behavior, fixing the retail price can lead to the ruin of the energy retail companies and the Guarantee Supplier in the event that the price of the wholesale market becomes higher fixed retail.
2. The right of end-users to choose any distribution company from which they will buy electricity at free, unregulated prices. A competitive market should contain mechanisms for hedging the risk for the consumer to stop supply due to the loss of the energy distribution company for various reasons, as well as hedging the market risk associated with unregulated activities of power supply companies. One of the most important tools for this hedging is the creation of a special institution of the Guaranteed Supplier, which was mentioned above in this abstract. The main condition necessary for the effective functioning of competitive wholesale and retail markets is the demonopolization of the production and sale of electricity. Competition is possible only between entities that do not belong (not affiliated) to one owner. If the state is the owner, then it is necessary that the management of their activities should not be centralized.

Thus, as the authors of the reform believe, in 2008 the Russian electric power industry will have a new target structure, the participants of which will operate in a competitive wholesale and retail electricity market. It is also assumed that from July 01, 2008 the holding of RAO "UES of Russia" will cease to exist.

2.3. Assessment of the ongoing reform of the electric power industry

As noted above, as a result of the ongoing reform, independent companies will be created, separately for the production of electricity and its transmission: wholesale generating companies, federal and regional grid companies, a federal system operator, as well as regional (territorial) generating companies, which will include regional CHPPs and small stations.

FROM lower prices in the electricity market. The authors of the reform believe that large power plants, grouped into seven wholesale generating companies, will compete with each other, and then an electricity market with free pricing will emerge, and prices will begin to decline. Meanwhile, researchers believe that in fact competition will not arise in principle, and electricity prices will increase as a result of reforms, including due to the collusion of sellers. So, for example, even with the current state regulation of tariffs and the monopoly sale of electricity in the field, the increase in the price index for it, according to official data from Rosstat for 2000-2005, was 1.2 times ahead of the increase in the price index for industrial products, 1.4 times - for manufacturing products. Thus, it can be assumed that in the free market, apart from low effective demand, there will be no barriers to price growth.

Competition in the electricity market. As already noted, wholesale generating companies are organized on an extraterritorial basis, that is, power plants from the same WGC are located in different parts of the country - this is clearly seen on the "Map of the location of WGC stations" . Such a structure was born not only to meet the criteria for equalizing the starting conditions for managing companies, but also to formally fulfill the conditions of antimonopoly legislation, which limits the dominance of the subject in the market to a sector of no more than 35% of the total turnover of these products. Having placed, thus, stations of several companies in each region, the authors of the reform believe it is possible to move to free market relations with consumers. Recall that no more than 3-4% of the entire electric power of the UES can be transmitted over the existing main power lines over a distance of more than 800-1000 km without significant losses. In this regard, it is pointless to unite within one OGK stations separated from each other by several thousand kilometers from the point of view of the company's overall economy. The market, as a relationship based on sellers' competition, requires approximately 30-40% of excess supply volumes for its occurrence products. However, the maintenance of excess production capacity is associated with considerable costs, which will be covered mainly by their owner, and not by the buyer, since in order to sell the excess product, its price will have to be reduced. Therefore, in the sphere of large-scale commodity production, competition either inevitably ends with someone's defeat and a winner's monopoly is established, or competing sellers agree on uniform prices. In the event of a competitor's defeat, his enterprise either joins the winner or disappears. And, as a rule, a new competitor does not arise in this place. Firstly, the results of “natural simulation” themselves often do not allow doing this, the result of which is the capture of the market by the winner. Secondly, modern large-scale commodity production is a very risky business, it requires huge capital outlays that pay off in a very long time, and, consequently, the concentration of capital. Therefore, competition in this area is observed mainly between transnational corporations, and the monopolization of the corresponding segments of domestic markets becomes objectively inevitable. A good example is natural monopolies. In order for them to meet the requirements of consumers in the absence of competitors, the impact of absent competitors is imitated by state regulation of prices for their products and services. Returning to the issue of competition in the electricity market, the researchers note that “that it would be possible to involve only about 20% of all electric capacities in it at FOREM. And even then in the summer, and if it were not for the restrictions on the range of their transmission. What is this market? And as industrial production grows, this reserve will also disappear, which will affect the reliability of electricity supply. Therefore, as a result of the "reform" in the field, instead of the former, somehow similar to natural ones, monopolists that are no longer controlled by anyone will arise. All attempts in other countries, including England, to make the production of electricity free, market ended in such a natural way. .

Thus, it can be summarized that in Russia, as a result of the ill-conceived corporatization of the electric power industry in 1992-93. “They let a genie out of a bottle labeled DOE and it turned into a multi-headed hydra. Each head of the hydra stuck to its own region and requires a personal tariff offering. So the former natural monopoly has degenerated into a multitude of ordinary local monopolies with arbitrary tariffs set for them, which vary by 3-4 times across the country. The "reform" of the electric power industry will allow directive, by simple division, to increase the number of hydra heads in each region. Moreover, the declared competition between them will not arise both due to the lack of excess capacity in most regions, and due to the difference in the technological capabilities of power plants, including the different speed of regulation of their power and the limitation of the distance of electricity transmission for economic reasons..

Attracting investments. According to the authors of the reform, competition and the electricity market are necessary to attract investment in the industry. However, there is no doubt that the organizational dismemberment of the Unified Energy System leads to the loss of its former system properties and qualities, and, as a result, to a significant decrease in the investment attractiveness of post-reform companies that will be owned by different owners. Russia” companies will be lower than their current one in this holding for another reason. As a result of the reform, regional AO-energos were abolished, in connection with which the “classic” responsible electricity suppliers disappeared everywhere, which increases the risks for investors. A fully responsible, that is, guaranteeing, supplier can objectively be only a person who owns the entire complex of power supply facilities that ensure the production, transmission and distribution of electricity, that is, the final result. It is obvious that retail companies or regional grid companies, which are supposed to act as last resort suppliers according to the plan of the reform, do not fully meet these criteria.

It is gratifying to note that researchers who critically assess the ongoing reform of the electric power industry not only present their assessments of the ongoing processes, but also talk about an alternative, at least until it becomes useless. the current, largely fictitious state regulation of tariffs, and to update for consumers significantly higher market prices for electricity. It is possible that a further rise in the price of electricity will be provoked by the creation of its deficit due to the closure of the least efficient power plants without replacing them with new ones, since not a single new owner will hold unprofitable assets. It is also likely that with the rise in electricity prices, unprofitable consumers will start curtailing production or closing. As a result, the revenues of wholesale and territorial generating companies will fall, which may lead to the degradation of their own assets and business, the curtailment of electricity production, its new rise in price, etc. This process can become self-developing, and, in the end, many energy companies - generating, marketing, service and their consumers together will find themselves in a crisis.

According to opponents of the current reform of the electric power industry, the alternative to the ongoing reforms is determined by the very history and ideology of the Unified Energy System. As you know, the UES was created as a single industrial complex, all the characteristics and properties of which were preserved only if it was intact and the prescribed rules for its operation were observed. The rejection of the UES and its division into economically independent functional parts with the final abolition of their former organizational unity and management may lead to the termination of the practice of reliable power supply to the country. In order to restore the previous efficient operation of the UES, it is necessary to bring its economic and management structure in line with its basin technological structure. To do this, the united energy systems (“joint AO-energos”), which form six interconnected basins, should be turned into economic entities - joint-stock companies. They should become the main producers of electricity and the only suppliers of electricity to their respective consumers. Such a reorganization is necessary to maximize the load of large, more efficient plants, restore optimal electricity flows and, thereby, reduce tariffs. To do this, tariffs should be set not by regions (oblasts), but within the boundaries of each united AO-energy as a weighted average when mixing electricity of different costs of the corresponding stations in these territories. For this to happen, all thermal power plants, including regional CHP plants in each basin, must become the property of the respective joint AO-energo. In order to make it unprofitable to heat the atmosphere in the summer by operating a CHP, as is the case today, it is advisable to set seasonal tariffs - higher winter and lower summer. At the same time, they should also be calculated based on the maximum possible priority load of nuclear power plants operating in this basin. Then, in order to balance the annual balances of electricity sales and the proceeds received for it, the combined AO-energos will be forced, as before, to achieve the maximum reduction in the cost of kilowatts -hours and its transportation, including due to more rational overflows within their basins and the corresponding regional ones fed from them.

The current regional generating companies are being reorganized into subsidiaries of the respective united AO-energos. Given the indivisibility of the power supply process, these subsidiaries will be responsible for its final result to all consumers in their region. To do this, it is expedient to transfer to the united AO-energos all distribution networks within the regions that now belong to regional grid companies, including the so-called utility networks for the lowest voltages. It is possible to keep high-voltage main networks isolated within the framework of their current owner - the Federal Grid Company. With the appearance in the region of one person responsible for its energy supply, and the disappearance of any unscrupulous intermediaries-speculators, which will also affect the reduction of tariffs, a single and transparent system of settlements with consumers and electricity producers, as well as the payment of taxes to the budget, will become.

Given that the System Operator exercises sole control over the technological modes of operation of the Unified Energy System of Russia and is authorized to issue commands that are mandatory for all subjects of operational dispatch control, the parent company RAO "UES of Russia" can indeed cease its activities, as planned by the authors of the reform. It remains to add that the elements of state regulation in the electric power industry should be implemented not only through tariff indexing, which the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Tariff Service subordinate to it have been coping with for several years, but also, first of all, through planning the development of the UES from the point of view of economics, ecology and security. For example, state regulators in the USA have been doing this for many years.

Conclusion

For many decades, the electricity industry throughout the world was regulated and remained practically the only island of a planned economy and regulated prices, even in countries with a mature market economy. It was only in the last 15–20 years that the understanding came that the electric power industry does not necessarily have to be a natural monopoly, and in many areas of the electric power industry (for example, in production and marketing), competitive relations may well be introduced that help increase the efficiency of the industry.

Features of electricity generation lead to the fact that electricity markets differ significantly from markets for other goods. Since the trading process must take into account the many physical constraints that are inherent in the production and transmission of electricity, the design of the electricity market is much more complex.

The reforms related to the construction of the electricity market contain a contradiction, which is due to the following. Engineers, or, as they say in our country, professional power engineers, fear that during the transition to market relations, the ability to manage the power industry as a single technological system will be lost and its reliability will drop catastrophically. In turn, market economists, which in our country include the authors of the reform of the electric power industry, are trying to apply universal models for electricity markets that are used for other commodity markets, and are skeptical about talking about the features of the electric power industry. Depending on which of these groups prevails in the creation of the market, the emphasis in its design shifts in one direction or another. For example, in the East of the United States, where energy pools traditionally existed, the technological features of the electric power industry were rather rigidly reflected in the rules of the electricity markets, and in the West of the United States, at first, they took the path of maximum liberalization of electricity trade.

The history of the Russian Unified Energy System has more than 50 years, its formation and development was carried out in the conditions of the Soviet planned economy, with all its inherent advantages and disadvantages. In essence, the reform of the electric power industry in our country is being carried out in relation to the industry that modern Russia inherited from the Soviet Union, because all the facilities and capacities commissioned over the past 15 years were designed and built back in the Soviet Union. From this we can conclude that, perhaps, the only actual form of functioning of the UES of Russia is the form of a natural monopoly.

Undoubtedly, the state of the Russian electric power industry in 1998 left much to be desired, and it needed serious reforms. It is also undoubted that such transformations should be carried out prudently and far-sightedly. The process of reform in the electric power industry is nearing its final stage, and our contemporaries witnessed that the authors of the reform did a lot of work, in some cases listened to the opinion of opponents and made changes to the concept of reform . This was done, for example, with regard to Hydro-WGC - instead of the four companies planned to be created, one united company was created. It is obvious that the shortcomings and contradictions of the reform, which were warned by the opponents, to one degree or another will lead to difficulties and problems in energy supply in the next 3-5 years. These problems will again have to be dealt with by the state, whose task is likely to be facilitated by the fact that the new owners of post-reform companies will be mainly state-owned companies and businessmen loyal to the state, with whom it is easier to find a common language.

In addition to the issues of systemic reform for the UES of Russia, the issue of a strategy for the horizontal development of Eurasian integration is relevant. It is known that the UES in Soviet times was the basis for the creation of the unified energy system "Mir", which included countries that were members of the then existing Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, and Finland. Restoring Mir will not be particularly difficult if there is goodwill among the former participants in this system. Among them were Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Hungary, whose energy systems are now connected to the networks of the EU countries. Therefore, the Russian UES, at the initiative of Russia, could become the core of the formation of a future Eurasian unified energy system, which, in addition to the countries of the European Union and the CIS, would gradually include China, both Koreas, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and possibly Japan, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan.

Thus, we are talking about a significant factor in ensuring the long-term geopolitical and geo-economic interests of Russia, which will allow it to start developing new, mutually beneficial economic relations with the outside world. Thus, the creation of the Eurasian unified energy system with the optimization of electricity flows in it will lay the foundation for a new international energy policy based on the management of international fuel and energy balances and energy conservation. At the same time, the restoration and development of the Russian UES within the framework of the Eurasian interconnected energy system will affect the growth rate of Russian oil and gas exports and limit the costly construction of pipelines for their transportation. After all, the cost of a pipeline and its operation is two to three times more expensive than building and maintaining a powerful transmission line of the same length, which often makes it preferable to produce large-scale electricity near the same gas production sites. At the same time, the growth of electricity exports, which is more profitable than the export of hydrocarbon raw materials, will make it possible to attract investments both in the Russian electric power industry and in the industries serving it, including the fuel industry. All this initiates the development of the domestic Russian market, the growth of employment of the population and its solvent demand, and, consequently, an increase in the domestic production of various consumer goods - the final product of the industrial community in any normal country.

List of references and sources

1. Lopatnikov L., Pereval: to the 15th anniversary of market reforms in Russia. - M. - St. Petersburg: Norma, 2006.
2. Stoft S. Economics of energy systems. An introduction to the design of electricity markets. - M.: Mir, 2006.
3. Khodov L. State regulation of the national economy. - M.: Economist, 2006.
4. Gelman M. Anti-state coup in RAO "UES of Russia". How to liquidate it? - M.: Promyshlennye Vedomosti, 2004 - No. 13-14.
5. Gelman M. Why does Anatoly Chubais scare with a mass shutdown of consumers? - M.: Promyshlennye Vedomosti, 2006 - No. 9.
6. Location map of OGK stations. - 2005 RAO UES of Russia.
7. Concept of the Strategy of OAO RAO "UES of Russia" for 2003-2008. "5+5". - 2005 RAO UES of Russia. www.rao-ees.ru/ru/reforming/kon/show.cgi?kon_main.htm.
8. Producer price indices by types of economic activity. 1999-2006 Federal State Statistics Service.
9. Power Deals 2006 Annual Review. Mergers and acquisitions activity within the global electricity and gas market. - 2007 PricewaterhouseCoopers. All rights reserved. www.pwc.com/powerdeals.

Introduction

The electric power industry is a complex branch of the economy, which includes the industry for the production of electricity and its transmission to the consumer. The electric power industry is the most important basic industry in Russia. The entire national economy of the country, as well as the level of development of scientific and technological progress in the country, depends on the level of its development.

A specific feature of the electric power industry is that its production cannot be accumulated for subsequent use, therefore, consumption corresponds to the production of electricity both in size (taking into account losses) and in time.

It is already impossible to imagine life without electrical energy. The electric power industry has invaded all spheres of human activity: industry and agriculture, science and space, our way of life. Its specific property is the ability to turn into almost all other types of energy (fuel, mechanical, sound, light, etc.)

In industry, electricity is used both to actuate various mechanisms, and directly in technological processes. The operation of modern means of communication is based on the use of electricity.

Electricity in everyday life is the main part of ensuring a comfortable life for people.

Electricity plays a huge role in the transport industry. Electric transport does not pollute the environment.

1. The importance of the electric power industry in the economy of the Russian Federation

Stable development of the economy is impossible without a constantly developing energy sector. The electric power industry is the basis for the functioning of the economy and life support. Reliable and efficient functioning of the electric power industry, uninterrupted supply of consumers is the basis for the progressive development of the country's economy and an integral factor in ensuring civilized living conditions for all its citizens. The electric power industry is an element of the fuel and energy complex. The fuel and energy complex of Russia is a powerful economic and production system. It has a decisive influence on the state and prospects for the development of the national economy, providing 1/5 of the gross domestic product, 1/3 of the volume of industrial production and the income of the consolidated budget of Russia, about half of the federal budget, exports and foreign exchange earnings.

In the development of the power industry, great importance is attached to the correct location of the electric power industry. The most important condition for the rational placement of power plants is a comprehensive account of the need for electricity in all sectors of the national economy of the country and the needs of the population, as well as each economic region in the future.

One of the principles for locating the electric power industry at the present stage of development of the market economy is the construction of predominantly small thermal power plants, the introduction of new types of fuel, and the development of a network of long-distance high-voltage power transmission lines.

An essential feature of the development and location of the electric power industry is the widespread construction of combined heat and power plants (CHP) for heating various industries and utilities. CHP plants are located at the points of consumption of steam or hot water, since heat transfer through pipelines is economically feasible only over a short distance.

An important direction in the development of the electric power industry is the construction of hydroelectric power stations. A feature of the modern development of the electric power industry is the construction of electric power systems, their integration and the creation of the Unified Energy System (UES) of the country.

2. Characteristics of the largest thermal and nuclear power plants

Thermal power plants (TPP). There are about 700 large and medium thermal power plants in Russia. They produce up to 70% of electricity. Thermal power plants use organic fuel - coal, oil, gas, fuel oil, shale, peat. Thermal power plants are focused on the consumer and at the same time are located at sources of fuel resources. Consumer-oriented are power plants that use high-calorie fuel, which is economically profitable to transport. Power plants operating on fuel oil are located mainly in the centers of the oil refining industry. Large thermal power plants are Berezovskaya GRES-1 and GRES-2, operating on coal from the Kansk-Achinsk basin, Surgutskaya GRES-1 and GRES-2, Urengoyskaya GRES - on gas.

Advantages of thermal power plants: relatively free location associated with the wide distribution of fuel resources in Russia; the ability to generate electricity without seasonal fluctuations (unlike hydroelectric power plants). Disadvantages include: use of non-renewable fuel resources; low efficiency; extremely adverse impact on the environment (thermal power plants around the world emit 200–250 million tons of ash and about 60 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere annually; in addition, they absorb a huge amount of oxygen).

Nuclear power plants (NPP). Nuclear power plants use transportable fuel. NPPs are oriented towards consumers located in areas with a tense fuel and energy balance or in places where the identified mineral fuel resources are limited. In addition, the nuclear power industry is one of the sectors of exceptionally high science intensity.

The share of nuclear power plants in the total electricity generation in Russia is still 12%, in the USA - 20%, Great Britain - 18.9%, Germany - 34%, Belgium - 65%, France - over 76%.

Now there are nine nuclear power plants in Russia with a total capacity of 20.2 million kW: Leningradskaya NPP in the North-Western Region, Kursk and Novovoronezh NPPs in the Central Chernobyl Region, Smolenskaya NPP, Kalininskaya NPP in the Central Economic Region, Balakovo NPP in the Volga Region, Kola NPP in the North, Beloyarskaya NPP in the Urals NPP, Far East - Bilibino NPP.

Advantages of nuclear power plants: they can be built in any area; installed capacity utilization factor is 80%; under normal operating conditions, they are less harmful to the environment than other types of power plants; do not absorb oxygen. Disadvantages of nuclear power plants: difficulties in burying radioactive waste (containers with powerful protection and a cooling system are built for their removal from the station; burial is carried out in the ground at great depths in geologically stable layers); catastrophic consequences of accidents at our nuclear power plants due to an imperfect protection system; thermal pollution of reservoirs used by nuclear power plants. From an economic point of view, nuclear power is specific. It has at least two cardinal features. The first feature is related to the large role of capital investments, which make the main contribution to the cost of electricity. From which follows the need to especially carefully and reasonably take into account the role of capital investment. The second is determined by the specifics of the use of nuclear fuel, which differs significantly from that inherent in conventional chemical fuel. Unfortunately, there is still no consensus on how these features should be taken into account in economic calculations. On the example of the Russian nuclear power industry, it is possible to analyze the above features from the point of view of modern features of electricity production.

Despite the fact that the economic problems of nuclear power were described in detail in a monograph, nevertheless, the optimism in the forecasts of its development that existed until the mid-1980s was determined mainly by ideas about the moderate capital intensity of nuclear power plants, often dictated by political considerations.

It is known that specific capital investments in nuclear power plants are much higher than in conventional power plants, especially for nuclear power plants with fast reactors. This is due primarily to the complexity of the NPP technological scheme: 2 and even 3-loop systems for removing heat from the reactor are used.

A special system of guaranteed emergency cooldown is being created.

There are high requirements for design materials (nuclear purity).

The production of equipment and its installation are carried out under particularly strict, carefully controlled conditions (reactor technology).

In addition, thermal efficiency at NPPs with thermal reactors currently used in Russia, it is noticeably lower than at conventional thermal power plants.

Another important issue is that the fuel elements inside the reactor constantly contain a significant amount of nuclear fuel necessary to create a critical mass. In some publications, for example, according to the data of Batov, Yu.I. Koryakin, 1969, it is proposed to include the cost of the first load of nuclear fuel in capital investments. If we follow this logic, then capital investments should include not only the fuel located in the reactor itself, but also used in the external fuel cycle. For reactors using a closed cycle with fuel regeneration, such as fast reactors, the total amount of fuel “frozen” in this way can be 2–3 times or even more than the critical mass. All this will significantly increase the already significant component of capital investments and, accordingly, worsen the calculated economic indicators of nuclear power plants.

This approach cannot be considered correct. Indeed, in any production, some elements of the equipment are in constant operation, while other material means of service are regularly replaced with new ones. However, if this period is not too long, their cost is not included in capital investments. These costs are taken into account as ordinary, current. In the case of fuel rods, this is evidenced by the period of their use, which does not exceed several months.

Another important issue is the price of nuclear fuel. If we are talking only about uranium, then its cost is determined by the costs of mining, extraction from the ore, isotopic enrichment (if necessary).

If the fuel is plutonium, which is used for fast reactors, then in the general case, two modes should be distinguished: closed, when there is enough plutonium to meet the needs of developing energy, and conversion, when it is not enough and 235 U is used along with it. For the case of the conversion cycle The price of plutonium must be determined from a comparison with the known price of 235 U. Any fast reactor can use both plutonium and uranium fuel. Therefore, in an economic comparison, the influence of the effect of the type of fuel on the capital component of the cost of electricity can be excluded. It is enough to equate only the direct costs of fuel (fuel components) in both cases. According to experts, the price of plutonium exceeds the price of 235 U by about 30%. For plutonium, this circumstance is important, since the produced plutonium as a by-product brings a large income.