Russia sets renewable-energy mandates

Russia has announced plans to increase the share of renewable energy generation from less than 1 percent today to 4.5 percent in 2020.

Russia, which relies predominantly on natural gas and coal for its energy supplies, established the government guidelines to make the renewables industry more profitable there. It's currently the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, with a quarter of its emissions coming from energy generation.

The requirements mean that Russia needs 22,000 megawatts of new renewable energy projects.

The government hopes to secure private funding for the industry as well as invest public funds in research and infrastructure for energy generation projects using water, heat, solar and wind.

RusHydro, Russia's biggest hydropower producer, is one company expected to benefit from government subsidies to renewable energy projects. However, hydropower plants with a capacity of more than 25 MW are not included in the government renewable-energy targets. Hydropower already contributes about 2 percent of the country's energy.

Earlier this week, Israel's government set a target of producing 10 percent of the country's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020, up from 1 percent today. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi, said renewable energy sources will make up 7 percent of its total energy production by 2020 (see Israel & Abu Dhabi compete on renewable energy targets).

The European Union has set a minimum renewable energy target of 20 percent of output by 2020 for its members, with many aiming to surpass the goals (see Holy See sees future in solar, U.K. unveils clean energy plan, Tidal power gets modern in France and Ireland pushes bio-energy with €30M research parks).