Renewable Energy Efficiency for Regional Development: Case of Belgorod Region

The article presents the results of an original research, conducted to evaluate the potential of renewable resources for increasing the sustainability of Belgorod region development. It is one of the most developed regions in Russia with diversified structure of economy. Significant feature of the region’s economy is a lack of domestic energy production and dependence on energy supplies from neighbouring regions. To define the most suitable way to cover the lack of energy and to contribute to the solution of environmental problems, the potential of renewable energy resources, such as solar radiation, wind speed, and biomass energy was estimated. The research was conducted using a variety of sources, such as scientific articles, statistical data, reports of industrial companies and agricultural farms, cartographic materials, space images and materials of own field researches. The most effective way of regional development, which contributes to the decline of energy intensity and environment improvement, is agricultural waste recycling by biogas production. The conclusions on the efficiency of renewable energy sources were based on calculations of GRP energy intensity in cases of traditional and alternative energy systems