The Russian Ministry of Energy has proposed using coal-fired power generation instead of gas-fired power generation to develop data centers in the country. This initiative was announced by Pavel Sorokin, First Deputy Energy Minister, during the SPIEF-2025 session “Gas Industry. Vector to the East”, moderated by Sergey Brilev, President of the Global Energy Association.
According to Sorokin, the suggested measure would, on the one hand, back up the coal industry, which is going through difficulties bordering on a crisis, and would give a boost to its profitability, and, on the other hand, it would help reduce the costs of transporting gas and electricity, and free up extra gas volumes that could be used in other areas, which are more economically efficient.
“Our coal industry is in dire straits right now,” said the deputy minister. “Why use expensive gas to create additional computing capacity, while one kilowatt of electricity produced with gas is sold at a reduced price? We could build power plants next to coal mines. Yes, today coal-fired power generation is rather costly, but there are opportunities for optimization. We would immediately save fifty to sixty dollars per ton by reducing transportation costs, we would additionally reduce the costs of transmitting electric power, and would disengage part of the gas balance in order to develop the production of fertilizers and other gas-intensive industries in the Far East, or supply gas under existing contractual obligations,” added the deputy minister, elaborating on his idea.
