A unit of Russian nuclear giant Rosatom has started operations at what’s billed as the nation’s largest wind farm so far, the 210MW Kochubeevskaya project.

The wind farm in the southern Stavropol Krai region began supplying Russia’s wholesale and capacity markets earlier in January after completion by NovaWind, Rosatom’s renewable energy subsidiary, which is developing some of the nation’s first projects.

Kochubeevskaya uses 84 2.5MW turbines built in Russia under the Red Wind joint venture between NovaWind and Dutch wind technology group Lagerwey, itself a unit of German OEM Enercon, that was formed to comply with Russia’s tough local content rules.

Rosatom has already brought the 150MW Adygea wind farm into service using Red Wind-built turbines and is working to install 1.2GW by 2024.

Rosatom was a winner in the latest Russian government renewables auction held late in 2020, when it secured another 192MW for delivery in 2023 and 2024.

The nuclear giant is among a trio of developers active in Russia’s fledgling wind market, as the vast, gas-rich nation seeks to spur 5.4GW of renewable energy capacity by 2024, more than 3GW from wind.

A joint venture between Finland’s Fortum and local developer Rusnano, with turbines supplied by Vestas, and the Russian unit of global renewables giant Enel are the other big wind players active in the country, with both set to build large projects over the next few years.

The Russian government is said to be considering changes to the support scheme for wind and other renewables that would crank up local content requirements even further, and bring the system more into line with other mechanisms globally.

Wind

Nuclear giant Rosatom flicks switch on Russia's largest wind farm