Fortum-Rusnano wind fund to site up to 600 MW in Rostov region

The Fortum-Rusnano wind investment fund has signed a cooperation agreement with the government of Russia's Rostov region for the construction of up to 600 MW of wind parks there in the 2019-2022 period.

The fund, a partnership between Finnish utility Fortum Oyj (HEL:FORTUM) and Rusnano, a government-owned investor in high-tech projects, was awarded the right to build 1,000 MW of wind capacity during 2018-2022 in Russia's renewables auction earlier in 2017.

The agreement with Rostov region is non-binding and a separate investment decision will be made for each project, Fortum and Rusnano said last week.

According to the Rusnano statement, the region will become a key area both for wind park development projects of the fund and for the localisation of production of wind power equipment.

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) has been selected by Fortum-Rusnano as the turbine supplier. It recently announced the signing of a framework agreement and outlined plans for the establishment of local manufacturing capacity, including a blade factory in the region of Ulyanovsk, a nacelles assembly plant in Nizhny Novgorod region, and a towers factory in the Rostov region.

Fortum is currently building Russia's first 35-MW wholesale power market wind farm. Located near Ulyanovsk, it is due to start operations in the first quarter of 2018.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!