Developer Alten plans to begin operations at the Kalmykia project in the first half of 2017, said FWT, which will from the end of this year deliver 20 2.5MW machines to the site in the southern republic of the same name.
The project is the first phase of a planned 300MW development by Alten, a subsidiary of Czech-based Falkon Capital, said the manufacturer, which makes turbines based on the technology of the former Fuhrländer business.
Russia had 15MW of wind capacity in place by the end of 2015, according to statistics from WindEurope.
Renewable – and especially wind – development in Russia has been painfully slow, in a country with huge fossil resources whose political leaders have viewed the sector with suspicion. Plans for wind development have also become bogged down amid stringent local-content requirements.
However, the country has staged several renewables auctions, most recently in 2015 when 280MW of PV was awarded.
Another company active in the Russian wind sector is Finnish energy giant Fortum, which in the same auction won the right to build a 35MW wind farm in Ulyanovsk Oblast.
