Page 146 - RusRPTApr21

were filled by 39% in November, while in Istanbul, which topped the ranking a month earlier, this figure plunged to 37.3%. In December, Moscow’s hotel occupancy rate climbed to 43.3%, which is over 1.5 times higher than in Turkey’s largest city. In the first month of 2021, this figure in Moscow remained virtually unchanged at 43.6%. The data of the Cushman & Wakefield report on Moscow are confirmed by other consultants, as well as hoteliers. The company’s partner Marina Usenko noted that Europe had not overcome another COVID-19 wave yet, which brought about the restrictive measures on people’s mobility and shutdown of infrastructural facilities, including hotels. The possibility of people’s free movement within the country and almost complete lifting of restrictions allowed Moscow’s hotel market to recover faster than European capitals, Head of the Hospitality Industry Division of CBRE’s Strategic Consulting Department Tatyana Belova stated. However, Moscow hotels are regaining their lost profits slowly due to a decrease in the average room price, according to CEO of Azimut Hotels chain Maxim Brodovsky. This price tag in some hotels previously fell by 30-40%.
9.1.10 Utilities & renewables sector news
The Russian government has cut the target of electric power consumption growth in the united energy system by 2024 to 4% from 6%, according to a document on the portal for legal information, seen by PRIME late on Monday. The plan also postpones completion of the Minusinskaya opornaya – Kamala 1 power line to 2022 from 2021. Financing of the plan was stipulated at 813.9mn rubles in 2019–2024.
The Russian government said it will cut funding for green energy by a fifth (22%) to $4.3bn, Kommersant reported on March 18. Now the cost conscience government has said the 2025-2035 budget for the renewables program will be cut from RUB400bn ($5.4bn) to RUB313bn ($4.3bn), unnamed sources told Kommersant, citing a March 11 meeting between Deputy Prime Ministers Alexander Novak and Yury Borisov. Initially, the Economy Ministry said it planned halve renewable investment funding while the Energy Ministry insisted on cutting it by one-third, Kommersant reported. Officials aim to keep rising electricity prices within inflation. Renewables investors interviewed by Kommersant warned that the cuts could lead to shutdowns of facilities, leading to job losses and ultimately monopolizing Russia’s renewables market.
On 16 March, Minister of Energy Nikolai Shulginov said that the ministry supported the introduction of a separate quota for CHPs in the further DPM2 auctions, with it being more expensive to modernise them than GRES. This has led to a limited number of CHP projects being selected so far.
Along with that, according to Shulginov, the ministry supports the prolongation of the renewables support in 2025-35, but believes the support size needs to be reduced so as not to create a large burden on consumers.The proposals to adjust DPM2 auctions further to allow
146 RUSSIA Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com