Wind Energy for Sustainable Development as Applied to the Kaliningrad Region of Russia: Technical Aspects

Sustainable development means the shift towards the use of sustainable renewable Energy sources. The development of wind energy is certainly one of the most successful examples of how to do this. Wind power engineering is the fastest developing branch of the global Energy industry. In 2014, the world reached the highest level of new wind turbines installed, a capacity more than 51 GW. This means that the share of wind in total electricity production is increasing, reaching, in some countries, outstanding values (for example, 39% of total electricity consumption in Denmark in 2014). The total capacity of a new wind turbine is comparable with the biggest traditional electrical power plants and the total installed capacity of the energy system. However, it causes specific problems of interconnection, operation, and putting such installations in traditional energy systems with traditional energy sources. There are good chances that the Kaliningrad region energy system in the nearest future would have to go into isolate operation because of the disconnection of Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian energy systems from Russian networks. If that is the case, the development of wind energy in the Kaliningrad region could become one of the most attractive options for a sustainable future of power engineering.