Russia’s Rosatom launches wind turbine blade factory replacing Vestas plant

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom launched a wind turbine blade factory at the location of a plant formerly owned by Denmark’s Vestas, the governor of Russia’s Ulyanovsk region said on his Telegram channel.

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas closed its plant that produced blades for wind farms in the city of Ulyanovsk in 2022 and left Russia in 2023, leaving all assets behind.

The sanctions, imposed on Russia by Western countries after the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, have cut Russia off from Western technologies and components, including the renewable energy industry.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last April that Russia in 2-3 years would be able to replace foreign manufacturers of equipment for wind farms that left the market.

The plant at its full capacity will produce up to 450 blades per year, Rosatom, one of the largest investors in Russia’s wind power, said.

The plant in Ulyanovsk may also supply blades for export, including Rosatom’s project in Kyrgyzstan, where it plans to build a 1-gigawatt wind farm, Rosatom’s head Alexei Likhachev was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva; editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Alexandra Hudson)