Fortum-Rusnano fund to install 236.6 MW of Russian wind farms

Finnish utility Fortum Oyj (HEL:FORTUM) and Russian nanotechnology company Rusnano have made an investment decision for the construction of 236.6 MW of wind parks in southwestern Russia’s Samara region.

The project will be executed through the Fortum-Rusnano wind investment fund, Fortum said on Friday without providing specific details about the wind farms. The capacity is expected to go online in the last quarter of 2022.

The move comes on the heels of a non-binding cooperation agreement with the government of Samara that will see Fortum and Rusnano deploy up to 300 MW of wind turbine capacity in the region in 2022 - 2023. Debt financing for the initiative will be extended by Russia’s Gazprombank.

The 50/50 partnership between Fortum and Rusnano won 1,823 MW of wind power capacity in Russia’s wind auctions held in 2017 and 2018. In addition to Samara, the duo is building 731.6 MW of wind parks in the Roston, Astrakhan and Volgograd regions. It has commissioned 600 MW of capacity so far, of which 350 MW was sold to a joint venture of Fortum and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

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