Purpose

To achieve economic, social, institutional and environmental benefits and improve energy security by providing transition from traditional fossil fuels to forest biomass in remote villages of the Volga River basin.

Main Activities

• Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the social, economic/energy and environmental situation in the remote villages of the Volga region;
• Assess the energy generation potential of low-value timber and timber waste;
• Plan forest restoration activities for efficient renewal of forest biomass;
• Develop a utilisation strategy of forest biomass for heating in small villages: comparative analysis of utilisation of fossil fuels and forest biomass, logistics of biomass transportation, evaluation of desirable degree of processing of timber and timber waste, environmental analysis of technology of wood combustion;
• Create an electronic database of Volga regional partners in the RE field;
• Organise workshops in two to three districts of theVolga River basin and RoundTable in the State Duma (SD), the parliament of the Russian Federation.

Expected Impact

• Strategy generation for necessary changes and improved awareness among local authorities and decision makers;
• Reduction in consumption of fossil fuels by 20-30 million tons of oil equivalent by uitilising biomass for heating;
• The quantity of forest biomass necessary for sustainable heating instead of transported fossil fuel can be provided at the expense of local wood processing waste.
• Reduction in budgetary costs for fuel purchase by 3-4 times;
• Decreased heating costs by a factor of two or three;
• Decreased pollutant emissions in the remote villages of the Volga region by approximately four to five times.

Increased sustainability of district heat  supply in the winter period