Renewable

June 15 (Renewables Now) - Italy’s Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) has been selected as preferred bidder for 291 MW of wind power capacity in the recent government tender, the utility said on Wednesday.

The award marks the Italian group's entry into the Russian renewable energy market. Enel operates in the country through its subsidiary PJSC Enel Russia.

The company’s clean energy unit Enel Green Power will develop and install two wind power plants for a total cost of about EUR 405 million (USD 456m). Once operational, the plants will sell their output on the Russian wholesale market and will get capacity payments by the government.

The projects, called Azov and Murmansk, are for 90 MW and 201 MW, respectively. The Azon wind park will be situated in the southern region of Rostov and is expected to have an annual output of 300 GWh. It is to begin operations by 2020.

The larger plant, to be installed in the northwestern Murmansk region, is planned to be launched by 2021, producing about 730 GWh of electricity per year and saving over 241,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The 2017 Russian renewable energy tender started on May 29 and sought 1.9 GW of wind capacity. It is in line with the country’s efforts to meet its goal of 4.5% renewables generation and 5.5 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2024.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.127)