Interfax quoted Mr Vladimir Putin President said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Summit that Russia will develop electricity generation in the eastern portion of the country while simultaneously working to unify it with the European part.

He said that "In developing energy in the Far East, we will join its infrastructure with that of the European part so that it will be easier for us to transfer the necessary flows of raw material and electricity from one part to another and to enter the markets both of European countries and the Asia-Pacific Region."

Mr Putin added that the energy systems in Russia both European and eastern just like with the railway network, have never been interconnected. He said that the solution to this problem is in the very near future.

Because of constraints in inter-system flows, Russian power is divided into two zones - the European part and the Urals, and Siberia. Even then, the energy systems of Siberia and the Far East are practically separate, as a result of which Far Eastern electricity is isolated from the rest of the country.

In case of necessity, shortages in energy zones are covered with power flows through border states. This happened in 2009 when an electricity shortage in Siberia caused by the disaster at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydro-Electric Power Plant was compensated for by flows from the European part through Kazakhstan's system.

Source - Interfax

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