Energy Transition and Resources for Electrification of Russian Cities in the 1890s — 1930s

Abstract

From the latter half of the 19th century, there was a gradual increase in the consumption of mineral fuel within the Russian economy. This fuel was extensively utilized not only in diverse industries but also in urban locales. During the final quarter of the 19th and early 20th centuries, a majority of power plants in central cities were powered by coal and petroleum derivatives. However, the economic crisis at the start of the 20th century, along with the First World War and the Civil War, resulted in a reduction in mineralization of fuel balance and halted the shift of the urban economy to mineral fuel. In the years of crisis, power plants in cities switched to using more cost-effective plant- based fuels such as peat and firewood, which subsequently impacted station efficiency. This article examines the actions of city governments regarding cities electrification during the fuel crises and socio- political changes of the early 20th century. The author highlights how local officials based their decisions for power supply technologies on the financial capacity of cities and the prevailing patterns of Russian energy development. Selection of vegetable fuels for power plants constructed at the end of the 19th century or during the socio- political and economic upheavals of the first quarter of the 20th century hindered the development of urban electrical infrastructure in subsequent years. This led city governments to prefer vegetable fuels during the construction of new local power plants.