Environmental Prospects for Energy Sector Development in the Irkutsk Region

The prospective development of the energy sector in the Irkutsk region depends on top-priority development strands of high-tech industries of the energy sector with advanced processing of raw materials, development of gas supply systems, and ensuring favorable environmental conditions. As it stands now, environmental conditions in the region are considered unfavorable, and energy facilities (most importantly, power generation facilities) affect all components of the environment in a significant way. Further expansion of coal-fired generation will contribute to more emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, as well as the production and accumulation of coal combustion residuals. Environmental issues of the energy sector can be partially addressed by large-scale gasification. Conversion to natural gas combustion at three major thermal power plants alone will reduce pollutant emissions by 1.5 times in the region. However, the commissioning of a modern coal-fired power plant can offset this effect, which eventually sets the region back to the baseline in terms of pollutant emissions and also entails a 2.5-fold increase in greenhouse gas emissions and a 2-fold increase in the production of coal combustion residuals. Gasification can prove instrumental in addressing environmental challenges faced by the energy sector locally, i.e., in the southern districts of the region. The expansion of coal-fired power generation will preclude complying with the requirements of the Clean Air Project, which is currently being implemented in the Irkutsk region.