Page 134 - RusRPTFeb23

tourist traffic to the islands. Accordingly, tourist traffic from Russia to this country in 2022 contracted by 8.4% against the prior year," the association said.
Nevertheless, Russian tourist traffic to the Maldives in 2022 was more than double that of 2019 and this destination has become categorized as a mass one on the Russian market, ATOR noted.
Experts predict that the Maldives will remain a highly popular destination for Russians in 2023. The choice of foreign destinations for "luxury" holidays this year is highly likely to be as limited this year as in the past, the association said.
9.1.10 Utilities & Renewables sector news
The total volume of electricity generated in Russia in 2022 amounted to around 850bn kWh in the first price zone (down 0.2% y/y) and 219bn kWh in the second price zone (up 1.3% y/y), Kommersant reported on January 11, citing preliminary data from System Operator of the United Power System (SO UPS).
No data was provided for the entire United Power System (UPS). According to previous estimates from SO UPS, total electricity consumption across the UPS increased 1.4% y/y in 2022 and was set to grow 1.5% y/y in 2023.
“The electricity consumption data for 2022 demonstrated once again that power generation remains a defensive sector. Moreover, the sector performed better last year than during the last three crises - according to SO UPS data, electricity consumption fell 4.7%, 0.6% and 2.4% in 2009, 2015, and 2020,” Sber said in a note.
“SO UPS's projection of a 1.5% y/y increase in electricity consumption in 2023 suggests that the sector should remain resilient to the economic downturn this year (our macro team projects a 1% drop in GDP this year). Our current estimate for electricity consumption in 2023 is more conservative - we project a 0.4% y/y decrease,” Sber added.
Russia is in talks with the Sri Lankan government about building two small nuclear power plants, according to Russian Ambassador Levan Dzhagaryan. The plants, each with a capacity of 55MW, would be the first of six that Russia hopes to build in Sri Lanka. Dzhagaryan said the project would save the country money on oil and coal, be environmentally friendly and safe, and would be inexpensive. It is currently being discussed whether Russia's state-run corporation Rosatom will visit Sri Lanka to examine the details of the project further.
Russian nuclear power plants (NPP) set a new electricity generation record of 223.371bn kWh in 2022, Rosenergoatom, the electric power arm of Rosatom state corporation, reported. The high quality turnaround campaign
134 RUSSIA Country Report February 2023 www.intellinews.com