Spatial Organization of Energy Facilities: Specific Features and Development Prospects (on the Example of Belarusian Practice)

The paper considers spatial organization of energy facilities with an emphasis on modem practice of the Republic of Belarus. The efficiency of enterprise operation in any industry including power industry is largely due to their architectural and planning organization. Knowledge of mechanisms and specific features of the changes taking place here makes it possible to justify a promising strategy for project activities, and therefore, it allows to manage development processes of the industry and thereby avoid many negative consequences. Energy facilities are a typological unit of industrial architecture, their formation has been started due to transition of industrial production to electric energy. Today the typology shows functional approach in architectural shaping, it includes a fairly large variety of constituent units and demonstrates a tendency towards diversification. In Belarus energy facilities in the architectural aspect of their classification are limited mostly to thermal power plants operating on different types of fuel. Currently the diversification is developing in the following areas: construction of hydropower facilities (small plants on reservoirs, medium power plants, low-pressure plants, run-of-the-river hydraulic power stations), alternative energy (wind power stations, photovoltaic power stations and biogas plants) and conventional energy (thermal power plant, mini-combined heat and power plant operating on renewable fuel). The results of Belarusian practice in construction of all types of facilities (hydropower, alternative and conventional energy), peculiarities of the architectural and planning organization of facilities at the current stage, correlation with global trends in the development of industrial architecture have been characterized in the paper. The paper has determined typological features of alternative energy facility architecture, opportunities and directions for implementation of architectural approaches, problems and prospects to develop scientific support for the project process.