The Russian commercial energy market operator, the Administrator of the Trading System, has selected EcoEnergy Group to build small-scale hydropower plants in the North Caucasus. Under the national renewable energy support scheme, selected developers secure guaranteed investment returns through capacity supply agreements. EcoEnergy was one of three companies to win quotas in the latest selection round.
The project will be managed by the subsidiary HydroEnergy-Ossetia and involves constructing a series of small hydropower facilities with a combined capacity of just over 10 megawatts. The plants will be located in the republics of North Ossetia-Alania and Dagestan. Regional planners favor small-scale run-of-river installations for these mountainous areas because they generate electricity without requiring large reservoirs or causing extensive land flooding.
The initiative aligns with an ongoing effort to expand renewable energy infrastructure in Dagestan. The regional generation mix already includes the 100-megawatt Derbent solar plant, the 1-megawatt Samur small hydropower plant, and the first 300-megawatt phase of the Novolakskaya wind farm. Additionally, construction is underway on the 5-megawatt Orel small hydropower plant.
Marat Shikhaliev, the acting minister of energy and tariffs for Dagestan, said the approval of the EcoEnergy project supports the regional strategy to increase clean energy generation. The regional government expects the expansion of renewable capacity to attract investment and improve power reliability for remote mountainous communities.
