Sustainable development in Chechnya & renewable Energy

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Abstract: This paper is focused on verification of the research question: Is

the application of renewable technologies in support of the sustainable development
of Chechnya viable. This study involves the assessment of the three components,
which are: the exploration of Chechnya as a region for development, the current
accessible renewable energy technologies with potential in Chechnya and analysis of
transition strategies from fossil fuel based energy sector to sustainable, low carbon
energy sector

Keywords: Information Technology, Sustainability, Renewable Energy,

Environmental protection.

Implementation of sustainable development in Chechnya: Through Renewable

Energy Technologies

Aliev. R. I.
1
FGBOU VO "Chechen State University", Russia, Grozny, 364907, st.
Sheripov, 32, email: mail@chesu.ru
 Chechnya Profile:

Basic Data:
Population: 1,346,500(2014)
GDP per inhabitant: 5,023
Area: 17,300km2
Urban:34.9%
Rural: 65,1%
Capital City: Grozny
Official Language: Russian, Chechen
Currency: Russian Ruble

Today, the world is facing the very serious problems of climate change and
increasing energy consumption whilst still a third of the worlds population suffers
from energy poverty (IEA, 2011). Recently more interest in the problem of global
warming and seeking solutions has emerged throughout the world (Brown et. al.
2011). While being a former post-war republic, Chechnya is usually clustered with
wealthies parts of Russia and has potential to improve environmental health through
renewable energy and information technologies.

It is obvious that access to energy is a key element in economic development,

however, sustainable development requires access to modern, efficient and clean
energy services as it includes the development of social, economic and environmental
aspects of a region (Strange, 2008).

Grozny: Where is the future?

Industrial progress has had life-threating effect on environmental health of the
planet, industrial progress and human actions causes regress for the sub-systems on
the Earth. The consequences of such actions is an increasing challenge in the field of
sutainable development for countries and nations. Threfore, it is necessary to engage
citizens in the field of sustainable fevelopment not only through renewable energy
resources but also information technology sphere which is an important part of
sustainability.

Transition Strategy

Robert et. al. (2005) state: peace, freedom, development and environment are
the areas which aroused worlds interest in the second half of 20th century. Peace
was threatened by the pursuit of strength and nuclear power of leading countries.
Even today, peace is an unattainable ideal for many people and nations depressed by
wars and aggression. The same can be said for freedom. Freedom was sought after
during the Second World War in the fight with imperialism and ascent of
establishment of democratic governance. This was followed by a concentration on
economic development to ensure basic needs for the poor 2/3 of the world, whilst
increasing the living standards of the remaining wealthy nations.
Although reinterpreted over time, peace, freedom, development, and the
environment remain prominent issues and aspirations (Robert et. al. 2005).
The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) initiated the World
Commission on Environment and Development in 1982, and then commissioned a
report called Our Common Future which was published in 1987. The Commission
originates from Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, where
the contradictions or interrelationships between development and environment were
first recognized. The first conference on Sustainable Development was held by UN in
1992, which was known as the Rio Earth Summit. The conference took place in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil and was focused on sustainable development and the condition of
the environment. The summit accomplished the development of a number of
important treaties being validated, including Agenda 21, a program adopted by 178
governments to deal with influence of human actions on the environment from local
to global levels, and some agreements on biodiversity, desertification and climate
change (UN, 2012). The second World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002
that was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, continued initiative of Agenda 21 and
agreed on the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (Schwarzer S., 2012). In 2012,
UN held another Summit that focused on the green economy, eradication of poverty
and other important aspects in achieving sustainable development (UN, 2012).

Empirical Findings:

The guidelines represented in this section are not a fixed methodological

approach. The technic used to explore a specific aspect of the composition may vary
from region to region as a function of data availability and difficulty of a specific
interrelation being examined. For instance, in exploration of the relationship between
local climatic data and technical requirements of energy production technologies, a
system of methods may vary from integration analysis to the utilization of a graphical
presentation. Similarly, the data analysis for any particular technology or its fuel
source availability can be approached by utilization of a software, as in the case of
solar PV technology analysis; or by following the framework (see Appendix II) to
estimate the wind source availability and find out the biomass fuel cost. The collected
data was analyzed and discussed to address disclosure of the study field by utilizing
different techniques and tools. A synopsis of the key empirical findings were given
within the corresponding empirical chapters, as follows:

a. Wind speeds in both selected regions are considerably small: an

availability of a wind energy source in both Grozny and Shatoy is significantly small
and local wind speeds are less than the minimal required for commercial application
of wind turbines. Therefore, this technology does not have potential of development
in the chosen areas.
b. The virtual absence of data on hydrology of the region: many
different publications assert that Chechnya is rich in hydropower this point of view is
also supported by the representatives of energy sector in Chechnya, who participated
in the survey.
However, hydrology of the region has not been investigated yet and there is no
required information to explore the potential of this technology in the region.
 c. Inability of solar PV technology to compete with gas fueled energy
production: there is a considerable amount of the solar radiation in the region,
however, the generation of energy by this technology is much more expensive than
the production of the same energy by conventional technology. In the absence of
supportive mechanism for renewable energy technologies, this technology does not
have viability to be introduced in the region.
d. The high fuel cost of biomass: biomass fuel cost is estimated to be
much higher that local gas cost. The reasons for that are: the high price of wood, need
to harvest and store the wood, as well as, low gas prices. However, in the presence of
manufacture of wood products or wood processing industries, the byproducts of
mechanical treatment of the wood could be a much cheaper fuel for the biomass
technology. Lack of information about working with wood in the region does not
allow to analyze that theory.

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Republic on December 8, 2011 N 218 On approval of the republican target program
"The use of alternative and renewable energy sources in the Chechen Republic for
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