The annual meeting of the BRICS Energy Research Platform took place in Moscow

The annual meeting of the BRICS Energy Research Platform took place on Thursday 13 October as part of Russian Energy Week. The event was moderated by Vyacheslav Kulagin, Head of the Centre for Global Energy Market Studies at the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"The research that will be presented today is the result of a year's hard work by the BRICS Energy Research Platform, and in my experience, the harder the work, the more satisfying it is to see what has come out. Moreover, we will have studies both in pdf format and as actual books," said the moderator in his introductory speech.

The event was divided into two parts. The first part presented three main studies - on renewable energy technologies, smart grids and an overview of BRICS energy, while the second part consisted of a discussion where the main current issues of BRICS energy development and directions for further cooperation were discussed.

Aleksey Kulapin, Director General of the Russian Energy Agency (REA) of the Russian Ministry of Energy, was the first speaker at the meeting.

He stressed that energy is one of the key areas of interaction and cooperation between the BRICS countries, and this cooperation is carried out on the basis of the BRICS Energy Research Platform, which was established in 2019: "The main objective of the platform is to strengthen the role of the BRICS countries in shaping the global energy agenda, promote energy interests and ensure global energy security. The platform focuses on the most topical issues of fuel and energy complex development, including technological development, the energy transition, the increased use of natural gas, renewable energy sources and the development of hydrogen energy."

Jiong Hao, Director General of the International Cooperation Department of the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, presented the Platform's research. During his report, he outlined the energy situation in all BRICS countries. The speaker noted that renewable energy in Brazil exceeds the global average by 14%. In order for Brazil to increase the share of renewable energy, certain measures have been taken: "Already more than 5% of Brazil's population is supplied by renewable energy."

Speaking about Russia, Jiong Hao emphasised that natural gas is the most commonly used energy source. Second place goes to nuclear power. Coal also plays a big role. In India, on the other hand, it is coal that comes first in power generation, according to Jiong Hao's report. In South Africa, according to the speaker, coal also makes up a large part of energy generation.

As for China, the country's coal generation for 2021 was 56% - a decline of 6.2 percentage points from 2016. In addition, the number of clean energy sources has increased by 25%.

The meeting was also addressed by Shunchao Wang, Assistant Director of the International Cooperation Department of the China Electric Power Planning and Design Institute.

He spoke about smart power supply networks (Smart grid). With smart grids, he said, the entire electricity supply system can be improved, as well as its reliability and stability.

The second part of the event was opened by Igbal Guliyev, Deputy Director of the International Institute of Energy Policy and Diplomacy, MGIMO of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

He stressed that one of the main issues in energy development in all BRICS countries is energy security: "Energy consumption is increasing in all countries. We predict that by 2040 at least 40% of both consumption and production will come from the BRICS countries. We realised that we needed to pay special attention to energy security."

Gautam Goswami, a scientist with the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, Department of Science and Technology, Government of the Republic of India, dedicated his speech to renewable energy sources (RES): "I am very happy to see that all the BRICS member countries are making a very serious effort to invest, time and effort in RES research. It cannot be otherwise, because we all depend in one way or another on the resources available, but not only material resources, but also intellectual ones. <...> Now we see how solar energy is already being used with modern technology."

He stressed that India is concentrating as much as possible on developing RES. The Indian government is also concerned with climate protection - it has launched its green energy mission. The Speaker quoted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: "We have just one world, one sun and one energy grid."

In his speech, Goswami also highlighted the problem of efficient solar panel management and life cycles: "We need huge areas, huge surfaces in order to generate solar power."

Eugenia Franke, head of analysis at the Renewable Energy Development Association, also took part in the event.

The speaker noted that the industry is fairly young - it has been developing in the country for 8 years.

Overall, there was a general consensus that the BRICS countries need to create more joint energy projects. According to the experts, the exchange of experiences will help all alliance countries to develop successfully in this area.

Photo: Roscongress / live broadcast screenshot