Strategic Renewables, Snowflake and Polar Microquakes

The Governor of the Murmansk Oblast (region) nominated the project envisaging the construction of a wind farm at the Kola Peninsula as a strategic regional investment project. Under this project, a wind power plant with a total installed capacity of approximately 201 MW will be built in this Arctic region by Enel, a Russian-based power generation company. The total investment is estimated at about 27 billion rubles (USD 363 million).

Work is underway to prepare for construction of the Snowflake International Arctic Station in Yamal. According to local authorities, construction experts contracted by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, an institution responsible for building and maintaining the station, have already completed the site survey and assessment. The project is reported to have entered the design phase.

Russian survivalist and explorer Fyodor Konyukhov, who will set up camp at the North Pole for about two weeks to conduct a series of field tests, will focus not only on microplastic, but also on the polar seismic activity -- something we know very little about. As part of his mission, he will deploy a portable seismic station designed by the Oceanography Institute (Russian Academy of Sciences) that will record the ambient noise produced by ice movement and detect microearthquakes.