Nornickel has a long-term sustainable development strategy ensuring the development of environmentally oriented production to enable the global shift towards cleaner mobility.
This involves the modernization of its production assets through the deployment of best available technologies and clean tech solutions, improving energy efficiency and resilience to the physical risks related to climate in the long term.
Between 2013 and 2021, the company extensively upgraded and modernised its facilities to considerably improve energy efficiency. The efforts include the replacement of seven power generating units at the company’s hydro plants, another power generating unit at a thermal power plant, two medium-pressure turbines at a thermal power plant and 14 new natural gas wells.
And the share of renewable energy in the company’s power mix is growing; it now stands at 55% in Norilsk and 46% across the group’s total power consumption.
Nornickel’s commitment to using renewable energy sources to improve its environmental footprint covers all stages of its operations, from exploration and mining right through to refining, marketing and sales.
Other steps, which have made Norilsk’s sustainability ambitions a reality and will reduce the group’s carbon footprint in the long term, have included the upgrade and repair of power equipment, a rollout of an automated control and metering system, reduction of heat loss in buildings and pipelines, and the decommissioning of obsolete power units.
The company's key renewable energy source is hydropower, generated by the Ust-Khantayskaya and Kureyskaya plants in Norilsk, which have a capacity of more than 1,000MW and have recently been upgraded to make them even more efficient. These power sources are key to decarbonising the company’s operations and are playing a critical role in its ground-breaking production of carbon neutral nickel.
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