BELARUSIAN MARKET
Belarus is endowed with only limited indigenous energy resources and is heavily dependent on imports of primary energy fuels from Russia. Russia's recent actions to introduce market-based prices for its energy exports to the CIS countries negatively affect the stability of the Belarusian economy. Increasing prices are depriving the economy of significant margins that have allowed it to finance its investments from cash flows and compensate for limits and weaknesses associated with state ownership and the vertical monopoly structure of the energy companies.
In comparison to developed countries the Belarusian economy is highly energy intensive and rising energy costs are decreasing the competitiveness of Belarusian products. Therefore development of projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors are extremely important both for businesses and the country as a whole.
Pure Energy Intelligence believes that the combination of lack of capital, government policy measures to reduce a high energy dependency on Russia, coupled with its new foreign direct investment emphasis has positioned the country's energy market for significant growth in the short to medium term.
The National targets for 2011-2015 lay out the implementation of concrete measures in the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency sectors. During this period Belarus has plans to bring 78 MWel of biogas online, as well as a comprehensive retrofitting programme which in itself will require some EUR 8 billion in capital expenditure.
Novel energy solutions and innovative financing can unlock a tremendous set of opportunities, however understanding governmental due process and approach is the key to success. Pressure to accelerate private ownership in energy industry has been brought to bear by multilaterals, as well as Russia and the West, and while opportunities like the ones being pursued by Pure Energy Intelligence are in line with this call, the size and nature of such projects makes them also favoured by the Belarusian Government.
Groups who believe they might be interested in partnering should first review our Partnering Opportunities section and then contact us.