Over 22bn kWh of electricity generated by Belarusian nuclear power plant so far

The Belarusian nuclear power plant has generated a total of over 22 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich mentioned the figure as he met with employees of the Minsk Cable Networks branch of the Minsk Oblast energy company Minskenergo, BelTA has learned.

Since the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was connected to the power grid, the nuclear power plant has generated 22.3 billion kWh of electricity, which allowed substituting 5.9 billion m3 of natural gas. “If we talk about this year, the figure already exceeds half of the total amount of electricity consumed in the country and is comparable to the amount of electricity consumed by the real sector of the economy,” Viktor Karankevich noted.

At present the Belarusian nuclear power plant has two units. It will generate about 18 billion kWh of electricity every year and will satisfy over 40% of the country's domestic demand for electricity. Once the nuclear power plant was commissioned, Belarus completely stopped importing electricity. The country's dependence on imported natural gas went down. The Belarusian nuclear power plant also meets the growing demand of the real sector of the economy and Belarusian households for electricity. Apart from that, the project is a good stimulus for developing allied industries. Electric transport is one of the promising areas.

Viktor Karankevich noted that the number of electric vehicle charging stations in the country is past 900. In January-November 2023 the amount of electricity they consume went up by 23% in comparison from the same period of last year. As a priority task the power engineering industry has to accomplish the next year the minister mentioned more efforts to upgrade the power grid infrastructure, which will allow using more electricity to heat Belarusian homes.