The Wind Energy Development Fund, which is a 50/50 owned investment partnership formed by Fortum and RUSNANO to invest in wind power in Russia, started supplying green power produced in the Rostov Oblast at its own local renewables facilities to Air Liquide’s factory – the second largest supplier of industrial gases by revenues that has a global footprint in over 80 countries – in the Republic of Tatarstan.
Alisher Kalanov, Head of the Investment Division RES of the RUSNANO Management Company, said, “Trying to reduce the adverse man-caused impact on the environment and staying committed to the principles of sustainable development is becoming corporate standard globally just as much it is in Russia. And we welcome every new consumer of green power in our country, to whom wind power enables to achieve their goals when it comes to energy efficiency and sustainable consumption.”
The wind energy cluster in the Rostov Oblast, commissioned by the Fund in the first half of 2020, is currently the largest wind power group of generation facilities in Russia with a total capacity of 300 MW. The cluster consists of three 100 MW wind farms, the Sulinskaya wind farm, the Kamenskaya wind farm, and the Gukovskaya wind farm.
It is planned to expand the cluster to 400 MW of capacity with the commissioning of the Kazachya wind farm. The Fund’s portfolio of projects implemented in the Rostov and Ulyanovsk Oblasts (regions) currently comprises 4 wind projects with 350 MW cumulative capacity. The Fund’s 745 MW more of projects are at various implementation phases.
In 2018 and 2019, Fortum entered into similar green power supply agreements with Russian subsidiaries of Unilever, a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in London, England, and Anheuser-Busch InBev, a multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. In 2020, the Fund began to sale green power to Sberbank.
Based on the results of competitive capacity auctions for investment in renewables projects, the Fund was awarded the right to build 1,823 MW of wind power with the commissioning date of 2024. The Fund’s portfolio covers 55% of the total number of wind projects commissioned in Russia so far.