Russia’s Wind Power Facts & Figures for RAWI FORUM 2021 Participants


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The RAWI team continues to prepare for the RAWI FORUM 2021. We bring to your attention a brief overview of wind-based power-generating sector in Russia and other countries of the world today, which will help navigate the agenda of the main annual event of the Russian wind energy sector – the International Wind Energy Forum, which is taking place on December, 1-2  in Moscow.

✅Russian wind power is now a fast-growing industry with a high degree of local content in manufacturing.

✅The development of wind energy started in Russia in 2013, when the programme of state support for renewable energy sources (the RES CDA programme) was adopted. The state support gave a start to the development of new energy sectors, including wind energy. The first wind power projects started to appear in 2018.

✅The number of projects implemented is increasing year by year. The new RES CDA 2.0 programme will cover the period from 2025 to 2035. At that time, Russia’s energy transition should begin and grid parity (in the cost of electricity from renewables and conventional generation) could be reached.

✅At the end of 2020, the installed capacity of wind power plants (WPPs) worldwide reached 743 GW (as of December 31, 2020). The growth in installed capacity is huge; for comparison, in 2000, the wind installed capacity was 17 GW globally. Compared to other energy sources, which have had an installed capacity increase of 1.0-1.5 times in the last 20 years, wind power has grown more than 40-fold.

✅Wind power ranks fourth in the world’s electricity generation mix, with wind power plants overtaking nuclear power plants in terms of installed capacity.

State of the Russia’s energy industry at the end of 2020

Russia

Power plant type

World

Installed capacity in energy mix (%)

Energy production per annum in energy mix (%)

Installed capacity in energy mix (%)

Energy production per annum in energy mix (%)

59.3

66.6

CHP

57.9

63

19.8

20.4

Hydro

15.2

15.6

20.57

11.9

Nuclear

5.2

10

0.19

0.7

Wind

9.7

5.3

0.14

0.4

Solar

9.9

2.6

Rest

2.1

3.5

245.3 GW

1,047 TWh

Total

7,690 GW

27,004 TWh

 

✅The installed capacity of wind power plants in Russia as of November 11, 2021 was 1,505 MW. It is important to note the trend; at the end of 2012, Russia had 10 MW of wind installed capacity. In 2018, the first wind farm built on the basis of the state support programme, the 35 MW Ulyanovskaya WPP-1, was commissioned. In 2019, the commissioned capacity was 50.4 MW, in 2020 rose to 713.8 MW, for a fraction of year 2021, 600.1 MW have already been commissioned.

✅The RES CDA programme is a 15-year contract under which the investor is guaranteed a return on the wind farm with a rate of return defined as 12% from the beginning of 2017. Competitive wind projects capacity outtake is carried out annually (initially for 3 years in advance, subsequently started for 5 years in advance). From 2013 to 2020, the competitive capacity selection under the CDA programme has been won by different companies, with the largest capacity portfolios currently pertaining to:

  • 3 MW Wind Energy Development Fund (FRV), established by Fortum PJSC and RUSNANO JSC on a parity basis, together with Vestas Rus LLC (Vestas Wind Systems A/S) as technology partner
  • 5 MW JSC NovaWind (subsidiary of Rosatom State Corporation)
  • 3 MW PJSC Enel Russia with LLC Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy as a technological partner

✅One of the most important conditions for operating in the market under the RES CDA programme is the increase of the local content level of industrial equipment in Russia. Currently, the technology partners have deployed their production facilities in

  • Ulyanovsk Oblast, wind turbine blades (by LLC Vestas Manufacturing Rus)
  • Rostov Oblast, wind turbine towers (by LLC Vetrostroydetal and LLC Bashni WRS)
  • Rostov Oblast, wind turbine generator stator, main bearing, generator, hub, nacelle (by JSC NovaWind)
  • Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, wind turbine hub and nacelle assembly (by LLC Vestas Rus at the Liebherr factory)
  • Leningrad Oblast, wind turbine nacelle assembly (be LLC Siemens Gemsa Ryneweble Energy)

✅In 2021, a new DPM RES 2.0 programme was adopted for the period from 2025 to 2035. In September, a new competitive auction was held, which resulted in awarding the construction of wind generation assets to the ‘Vetroparki FRV’ investment fund (established on a parity basis by PJSC Fortum together with RUSNANO Group) and JSC VetroSGC-2 (a subsidiary of JSC NovaWind, part of the Rosatom Group). It should be added that the baseline of performance of the projects put out to the RES CDA 2.0 tender was, according to the Russian Government Executive Order #1446-r as of June 1, 2021, at the level from 5,706 to 6,291 roubles per MWh. However, judging by the published auction results, many bids were reduced by more than 3 (!) times, which, naturally, gives reason to call what is happening in the Russian wind energy sector a revolution.


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