The drop has been due to export restrictions prompted by increasing demand in the Russian Far East, according to an energy company CEO
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Moscow’s supply of electricity to China saw a major year-over-year drop in the first half of 2025, according to the state-run power exporting company Inter RAO. The decline has been attributed to internal supply restrictions rolled out in response to growing demand in Russia’s Far East.
Russia is a key electricity supplier to China, the world’s number one power consumer. In 2024, the East Asian nation accounted for a third of global power demand, according to global energy think tank Ember Energy.
Electricity exports to China have dropped 44% in the first half of the year, Inter RAO CEO Sergey Drevgal told Vedomosti. He also noted that Russia’s total electricity exports fell by 17.6% in 2024 to 8.53 billion kilowatt-hours.
Speaking with journalists at a briefing during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the company’s head highlighted that the major decrease in supplies to the neighboring country had been caused by export restrictions prompted by soaring electricity demand in the Russian Far East and a shortage of hydro resources in eastern hydroelectric reservoirs.
“Given the ongoing restrictions, we are forced to forecast that electricity supplies to China this year will fall below the 2024 level,” Drevgal said.
Last year, Russia’s power supplies to China amounted to 0.9 billion kilowatt-hours, marking a major decrease compared to the 3.1 billion kilowatt-hours recorded in 2023.
Drevgal added that electricity exports to Kazakhstan (the biggest importer of electricity from Russia) and Mongolia are expected to remain high in 2025.
The CEO also said that the volume of electricity exported to Kyrgyzstan will directly depend on the transmission capacity of the power grid in neighboring Kazakhstan.
He refrained from forecasting the overall volume of electricity exports, saying that the final outcome will depend on a number of factors, including electricity consumption trends in Russia and abroad, price dynamics in domestic and foreign power markets, exchange rates, and other variables.