Spanish company Windar Renovables and local partner WRS Towers have opened a plant for manufacturing turbine towers in Russia.
Windar said the factory, at Taganrog in Rostov, is the first such facility in the eastern European country.
Commissioning of the factory required investment of about €10m that will see towers produced each year for up to 300MW of onshore wind capacity after 2020.
WRS Towers partners also include Russian companies Rusnano and Severstal PSJC, with the latter providing steel plates for the towers.
Windar said initially the main client will be a joint venture of Fortum and Rusnano called OOO Vetroparky FRV, which was awarded tender projects which have a combined capacity of 1.8GW.
Vestas is a technology partner of the developers, it added.
Windar Renovables executive president Orlando Alonso said: “The new factory will increase production capacity in the Rostov region, using new technology and knowledge from all over the world.
“Windar Renovables, which is leading the project with a 51% share in WRS, has found the best partners in Rusnano and Severstal, and therefore we expect a lot to come of this union in the future.”
Rusnano president Anatoly Chubais said: “The launch of the first steel tower production plant, one of the key components of the wind turbine, is an historic event for Russian energy and mechanical engineering.
“This makes us confident that Russia will maintain its status as an international energy power for generations to come.”
Severstal managing director Alexander Shevelev said: “Entering new markets for complex, high-tech products often requires the collaboration of several partners. The opening of the first Russian factory to produce wind turbine towers is the result of such a collaboration amongst three leaders within their respective markets – Severstal, Rusnano, and Windar Renovables.”