ENERGY MARKET OF THE ARCTIC: FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO RENEWABLES
Abstract
The study is devoted to the Arctic energy market under the current unstable geopolitical circumstances and inevitable climatic changes. Being an extremely important region, especially for mining activity in fossil fuels production sector Arctic has become a matter of steadily increasing strategic interest, not only for traditionally Arctic countries such as Russia, the USA, Canada, Norway, and Denmark, but also China, which recently declared itself a “quasi-arctic state”. The study contains analysis of the latest geopolitical trends in a typical East-West regional opposition starting with determination of legal status of Arctic territories, evaluation of potential security risks deriving from accelerated militarization of the region within the latest several years mostly initiated by Russian government, and current intensive efforts of the global leading countries for success in the future distribution of spheres of influence in the Arctic region. The characteristic features of Arctic crude oil and natural gas production have been highlighted. At the same time the study evaluates advantages and risks of climate change for the local economic activity including so called “amplification effect” in average temperature growth in Arctics, as well as consequences of these changes for the world economy, including the organization of new logistic routes through the Arctic circumpolar territories connecting the Northern Atlantics to numerous rapidly developing Asian Pacific regions. By investigating the geographical disintegration of electricity infrastructure, such as microgrids, in Arctics the study highlights a set of technical restrictions for usage of renewable power generation technologies in circumpolar territories explained by harsh weather conditions and low level of population, simultaneously providing application recommendations based on progressive nuclear technical solutions to improve the power supply of the region and accelerate its development with mitigation of anthropogenic effect on the Arctic nature and preserving it as the legacy for future generations.
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