Key events
Decree No. 45 was signed, setting the maximum permissible tariffs for housing and communal services for 2025. As a result, utility payments for the population, calculated for a typical two-room apartment with three residents and standard service consumption, will increase by Br21 (0.5 base value, equivalent to $6) in 2025.
The Belarusian energy system continues to operate stably and reliably following the Baltic countries’ exit from the BRELL energy ring.
Repairs on hydro unit No. 2 at the Grodno HPP have been completed. The planned major overhaul began in 2021. Despite sanctions-related challenges, after complex negotiations and logistics routes spanning thousands of kilometers, Belenergoremnaladka OJSC successfully ensured the operability of the hydro unit.
«Solominka» is the first closed-type 110 kV substation in the Mogilev region. This facility will provide 30,000 residents of the new «Solominka-2» microdistrict with electricity for heating, hot water supply, and cooking.
The reconstruction of the 330 kV Grodno Yuzhnaya substation is ongoing. To compensate for reactive power in the Belarusian energy system, an unregulated 10 kV shunt reactor with a capacity of 30 MVA was installed at the substation in 2022.
The reconstruction of the 110 kV Buinovichi substation has been completed. The Mozyr Electric Networks branch has carried out reconstruction work, replacing high-voltage equipment and relay protection devices.
The modernization of the 330kV Polotskaya-330 substation is underway at Vitebskenergo. The total power consumption of the Polotsk energy hub is approximately 300 MW.
Reconstruction of the 330 kV Lida substation has begun. The substation currently operates with two autotransformers rated at 330/110/10 kV, each with a capacity of 125 MVA. The facility is scheduled for commissioning in March 2027.
In December, the scheduled repairs of power unit No. 3 at the Berezovskaya State District Power Plant were completed.
On February 8, due to pipeline damage, heat supply was interrupted for 11 residential buildings and 2 administrative buildings. Overnight, the affected section of the network was repaired, and heat supply to consumers was fully restored.
On the morning of February 24, a failure at the 110 kV «Kobrin-Zapadnaya» substation led to a temporary power outage for some consumers in Kobrin.
After the 110 kV overhead power line was disconnected, the Zeleny Lug substation temporarily cut off the power supply to the Pervomaysky and Sovetsky districts of Minsk.
On February 27, a 700 mm diameter heating main was damaged in Mozyr. During the repair work, the temperature of the hot water supply temporarily dropped below +50°C.
Later, information emerged that on the night of February 27, a military drone, presumably Russian, fell and caused damage to one of the high-voltage lines of the Mozyr CHP. Due to the malfunction of the automatic protection system, neighboring high-voltage lines also went into emergency shutdown, completely de-energizing the CHP. The Mozyr Oil Refinery is only 350 meters away from the CHP.
Statistics and data
In January, 27,580 m of rock were drilled.
Belorusneft plans to drill at least 290,000 meters of rock in 2025. In 2024, work was conducted on wells using the Plug&Perf multi-stage hydraulic fracturing technology, which allowed for 707 hydraulic fracturing stages on 113 wells. In 2025, it is planned to perform 841 stages on 118 wells. In total, in 2024, 14 drilling unit teams drilled over 280,000 meters of rock, exceeding the plan by more than 55,000 meters.
Drill unit specialists completed 8 new wells. Five of them were drilled at the Rechitsa field, while one well each was built at the Severo-Domanovichskaya, Ostashkovichskaya, and Beskopylnovskaya areas.
Oil production reached 1 million 938 thousand tons, with development carried out on 124 deposits across 55 fields. Currently, the largest 3D seismic survey in the history of Belarusian exploration is being implemented in the Maisko-Makeevsko-Dneprovskaya area to obtain a three-dimensional image of the rock layers.
Savings in fuel and energy resources amounted to 606.4 kt of coal equivalent, exceeding the target of 544 kt c.e. The preliminary target indicator for the share of local fuel and energy resources (excluding nuclear energy) in gross consumption was 17.1%, while the target for the share of renewable energy sources reached 7.2%.
In February 2025, the Belarusian energy system reached a record one-time capacity of 6,721 MW. At the same time, daily electricity consumption also exceeded the historical maximum, amounting to 144.5 million kWh.
Last year, the volume of electricity consumption in Belarus amounted to 43 TWh.
Since the first power unit was connected to the unified energy system, the Belarusian NPP has generated more than 40 billion kWh of electricity. In 2024, the Belarusian NPP generated 15.7 billion kWh of electricity, which is a 33% increase compared to 2023.
The number of electric vehicles on the country’s roads exceeded 23,000, with electricity consumption by charging stations reaching 39.6 million kWh. The volume of electricity used by the population for heating purposes by the end of 2024 amounted to 880 million kWh.
In 2024, 17,184.8 million cubic meters of natural gas, or 99.6% of the agreed volume, were delivered through the gas distribution system of Beltopgaz. The forecast for 2025 is 17,539.3 million cubic meters. As for the peat industry, peat industry organizations produced 875.1 kt of peat fuel products, and the volume of production of non-fuel peat products amounted to 152.6 kt. Additionally, 77.8 kt of peat fuel products were exported.
Statements
In the past 4 years, 1.7 million square meters of electric houses have been built in Belarus, according to the Minister of Energy. Electric houses are apartment buildings that rely on electric energy for heating and hot water supply. The tariff for this electricity is currently set at 15% of the cost of producing electricity. The Minister expressed pride in the construction of such housing, which, however, contributes to increasing the losses of the energy system.
«In the conditions of the enterprise’s loss-making operation and, as a consequence, the lack of opportunities to increase the first-class tariff rate, (salaries) » said the head of the labor organization and wages department of the Mozyr Oil Refinery, confirming the company’s unprofitable status.
Topic of the Issue: Coal trading
In mid-January, there were reports about a sharp increase in coal imports to Belarus.
Until 2020, the statistics of the coal balance are known. Consumption in Belarus is stable at about 650-750 thousand tons. At the same time, starting from 2017, the volume of imports significantly exceeds consumption and there is a noticeable volume of exports.
Moreover, Belarus does not produce coal at all, so exports can only consist of coal that was imported earlier.
Foreign trade statistics are also available up to 2020, showing that the main coal-exporting countries to Belarus are Russia and Kazakhstan. Exports from Belarus mainly went to Poland and Ukraine. At that time, it was believed that coal supplies to Belarus in 2023 would be estimated at 300-400 thousand tons, corresponding to the level of domestic consumption, where coal has been actively replaced by peat in recent years.
According to the Central State Unitary Enterprise of the Energy and Power Industry of Russia, in the first quarter alone, Russia exported 2.15 million tons of coal to Belarus, and in the first nine months of the year, the volume reached 5.7 million tons.
It is clear that Belarus could not consume such a volume of coal, as there are simply no consumers for it. Unfortunately, there is also no data on coal exports from Belarus, so the destination of these 5 million tons remains unknown.
However, some assumptions can be made based on indirect indicators. For example, according to Belarusian Railway community , no coal exports to Poland were observed. There were exports of 34 wagons (2,200 tons) to Latvia and 72 wagons (4,700 tons) to Lithuania. Thus, coal exports in such large volumes do not appear to be occurring.
At the same time, if each wagon contains 60 tons of coal, then about 95,000 wagons were delivered. If a train consists of 50 wagons, this would equal 1,900 trains, or about 5 trains per day. The railway community did not pay attention to these significant volumes of coal transportation across Belarus.
It is also known that as of November 6, Belarusian Railways had transported 50 million tons along international lines. Thus, imports alone would have accounted for 10% of all international transport by Belarusian Railways. If the coal were not used domestically and were instead exported, it would have accounted for 20% of all external transport. However, there has been no growth in international transport by rail in the statistics.
Thus, we can infer that Belarus serves as a point for laundering «dirty» coal. This may be to circumvent sanctions imposed on countries that do not agree to trade Russian coal, or it could be coal from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
In any case, one thing is certain – the coal did not physically enter Belarus. Customs data only show a fictitious change of ownership and source of origin.
