As part of the delegation’s visit to the Republic of Tatarstan for the 2026 Global Energy Prize laureate announcement ceremony, participants visited a number of Tatneft facilities showcasing the company’s integrated approach to sustainable development, the bioeconomy, and the creation of autonomous, energy-efficient communities.
The delegation’s route covered innovative solutions in biomass processing, green energy, construction technologies, and education. The first stop was the modular fast pyrolysis unit for wood and agricultural biomass in the settlement of Aktyubinsky. The project was implemented by Tatneft and is part of the company’s strategy for developing the bioeconomy and circular economy. The unit, wholly Russian-designed, handles leftover plant materials. The technology is based on fast pyrolysis – heating biomass in the absence of oxygen. The thermal decomposition of organic compounds yields gaseous and solid fractions. The gaseous fraction is condensed, producing a liquid product – bio-oil (used as feedstock for producing biocomponents of motor fuel) – and a solid carbon residue – biochar (used for producing sorbents, slow-release fertilizers, feed additives, and fuel briquettes). The bio-oil is sent to Tatneft’s oil refining complex – TANECO in Nizhnekamsk, where it is used as additional feedstock for producing fuel fractions. The finished fuel with biocomponents, meeting Euro-6 standards, is already sold at Tatneft filling stations.
Aktyubinsky settlement – an experimental autonomous, energy-efficient community project.
The delegation also visited the settlement of Aktyubinsky, which has become Russia’s first pilot site for creating an autonomous sustainable energy-efficient settlement. The company’s integrated approach includes both the modernization of housing stock and the replacement of heat supply sources with environmentally friendly ones running on local biofuels. As part of the modernization program for two multi-apartment buildings of standard construction from the 1950s and 1970s, comprehensive energy-efficient solutions were implemented: insulation of building envelopes, replacement of windows with energy-efficient double-glazed units, installation of weather-dependent heating control and energy-efficient water supply fittings, and installation of 200 photovoltaic modules with a total capacity of 76 kW and annual generation of 62–64 thousand kWh. The hot water supply system based on solar collectors and two heat pumps utilizing low-grade heat from ventilation air provides year-round hot water to a 30-apartment building. As a company representative noted, over three years of monitoring, thermal energy consumption decreased by 30–35%, and residents’ total utility costs fell by 29–31%. Moreover, hot water for residents of the three-story building is supplied at the cold water tariff. “No additional costs are incurred by residents,” the company representative emphasized.
An important part of the settlement’s energy infrastructure was the solid-fuel boiler house running on wood chips. It replaced a gas boiler house that “had become obsolete both physically and morally, incurring hydraulic losses, thermal losses, and energy losses for pumping the medium.” The fuel chosen was waste from commercial wood processing – wood chips. This is a biological fuel whose resources in the area fully cover demand. The share of domestically manufactured equipment in the boiler house reaches 75%. The wood chip combustion process is automated and virtually waste-free: the ash generated during combustion is transferred to agricultural enterprises as fertilizer for soil conditioning. The boiler house has successfully operated for three full heating seasons.
Eco-friendly filling station
The Global Energy Association delegation visited Tatneft facilities to assess the practical application of green technologies and approaches to training future engineering and scientific personnel.
The first stop on the route was a filling station in the settlement of Aktyubinsky – an example of integrating renewable energy sources into everyday infrastructure. Following its 2022 renovation, the station operates with partial autonomy: four wind generators (50 kW) and 138 solar panels (62 kW) cover up to 30% of the facility’s daily electricity demand. The energy system is supplemented by 10 industrial batteries and two heat pumps responsible for the building’s climate control. The site also features an electric vehicle charging station and a robotic car wash.
From energy transition technologies, the delegation moved on to decarbonization and career guidance projects, visiting a rural school in Malbagush. Since 2019, one of ten school biolaboratories has been operating here – a Tatneft project that combines reforestation objectives with practical training for future biotechnologists. At the school with just 71 students, a large-scale plant microclonal propagation process has been instituted. Students from the sixth grade onward, under sterile conditions, propagate cultures and grow them in special incubators.
Today, the laboratory simultaneously cultivates over 40,000 seedlings of 150 species – from aspen and birch to hydrangeas and pineapples. The laboratory’s key project is the cultivation of triploid aspen. This species, with three pairs of chromosomes, is characterized by accelerated growth, increased disease resistance, and a greater capacity for absorbing carbon dioxide. The project has a direct environmental impact: schoolchildren have already planted 200,000 trees in Tatarstan (Tatneft’s total plantings exceed 500,000). Another 60,000 plants are currently being prepared for planting at the school’s adaptation center. Practical work in the laboratory helps children choose a profession – many graduates continue their education in biological and medical universities.
The final stop of the visit was the M.K. Tagirov Lyceum No. 1 in Almetyevsk. This is the city’s oldest educational institution, founded in 1918. “Oil had not yet been found, but education was already here,” emphasized the lyceum director, Rustam Shakirov. In 2023, Tatneft completely renovated the historic building, transforming it into a modern educational center with an engineering focus (physics-mathematics and chemistry-biology streams).
The lyceum is equipped with high-tech facilities: wood and metal processing workshops, 3D printers, a recording studio, two gymnasiums, a swimming pool, and a modern assembly hall. At the same time, the interiors retain a national identity through the integration of Tatar ornamentation.
Infrastructure modernization is already yielding measurable results: having gained access to new equipment, lyceum students earned prize-winning places at the All-Russian Olympiad in Technology for the first time in the institution’s history.
