Vestas will open a blade plant in Russia after securing the prospect of significant business in the country’s emerging wind power sector, it was announced today.

The Danish OEM will build the factory in the country’s Ulyanovsk region with an investment of about 1bn roubles ($17.5m), said a statement from Russian wind energy association RAWI.

The plant would mark the first large-scale investment by a major western wind OEM in Russia, which applies stringent local content rules to renewable energy developments.