India presents prospects in renewable energy, carbon fibre, and other fields for Russian company Rosatom

According to a senior business official, the Russian company Rosatom is considering a number of options in the "extremely attractive" Indian market, including those in the carbon fibre and renewables sectors.

Additionally, the group is interested in investigating opportunities in the fields of energy storage, radiation technologies, and nuclear medicine.

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Tamil Nadu is being built by Rosatom, a major player in the global nuclear technology market. Two of the plant's six reactors, which will have a combined installed capacity of 1,000 MW, are already running.

The business is currently thinking about prospects in other sectors in India, such as carbon fibre and renewable energy.

According to Vadim Titov, President of Rusatom-International Network, "Rosatom is not only about nuclear (energy), but also about several promising areas of cooperation, so we will be more than happy to offer some potential cooperation with Indian partners in other areas such as carbon fibre and wind energy.

The Rusatom International Network, among other things, seeks for new commercial prospects and supports the operations of Rosatom divisions in foreign markets.

The opportunity to work with Indian colleagues in the energy sector is unquestionably a great luxury for us, according to Titov. "The Indian market is undoubtedly highly promising," he added.

He claims that Rosatom is a major player in the Russian wind power industry in addition to being a nuclear energy firm with an emphasis on nuclear energy.

He stated that the business might offer technologies to its overseas partners without going into further detail.

"We are looking at a number of prospects in the international markets for the production of wind energy, as well as a number of other activities we can provide to our Indian partners, such as nuclear medicine, radiation technologies, and novel materials like carbon fibre.

"We are one of the leading manufacturers of carbon fibre in Russia. We are looking into a number of opportunities in this field (of carbon fibre)," added Titov.

A strong and lightweight material used in manufacturing is carbon fibre, a polymer.

Rosatom operates more than 600 MW of operating wind energy capacity in Russia.

Regarding further potential, Titov mentioned that logistics is another crucial sector and that Rosatom is a participant in the Northern Sea route.

"I believe that here also we can discover multiple chances," he added. "This is a really promising transport corridor and transport and logistics from the east to the west and the west to the east and so on."

As he discussed the Northern Sea Route, the Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor, and the International North-South Corridor last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that "connectivity will play an important part in the growth of our relations in the future."

In addition to energy, he had noted that India has made sizeable investments in the pharmaceutical and diamond industries in the Russian Far East. "India is ready to enhance its relationship with Russia on Arctic concerns. There is also great potential for cooperation in the sphere of energy.

Titov responded in the affirmative when asked if cooperation in the fields of lithium batteries and electric vehicles may also be investigated in India.

"We think that this approach to energy storage will be a component of the future energy mix... if we can find a way to cooperate with the Indian partners, we will be more than delighted in this sector (energy storage)," he continued.

Titov stated that more people are becoming interested in nuclear energy. According to him, nuclear energy is an environmentally benign form of energy, and in the future, the energy mix will incorporate both nuclear and renewable sources.

He was speaking to PTI last week as Rosatom was hosting an international fishing competition close to its Leningrad nuclear power facility in the waters of the Gulf of Finland.

Around 35 nuclear power stations are now being built worldwide by Rosatom, including one at Kudankulam in the Tamil Nadu state. Rosatom has operations in 50 countries.

In response to a question on energy price volatility and whether there will be a nuclear renaissance, Titov said it is clear to everyone that nuclear energy is a major answer for price instability.

We now know that many many countries have decided to follow new NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) construction strategies. I believe nuclear energy generation will be a great part of the future green energy mix, he said. "Nuclear (energy) can help resolve all such type of (energy) turbulence" because it is stable, dependable, and environmentally friendly.

He added that the cost of nuclear energy is competitive with that of other sources.