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Expert: Rosatom continues its clean and carbon-free energy strategy
06.02.2017
Rosatom views wind energy as one of the promising areas of growth in the non-nuclear business, Rosatom First Deputy Director General Kirill Komarov said in an interview with RBK TV channel. In 2016 Rosatom won the competition to build three wind farms in Russia with the total capacity of 610MW. The components for wind turbines will be produced locally at Rosatom’s machine-building enterprise Atommash in Volgodonsk (Rostov Oblast). “We are now running the competition among the banks to become financial partners of Rosatom. The project is quite big, roughly €1.3 billion,” Kirill Komarov said. “We have received offers from more than six banks. They are ready to provide lending to finance 80% of the project and fund another 10% on the principles of mezzanine financing, i.e. to act as investors of the project for a short time and grant a shareholder loan,” he added. According to Rosatom’s estimates, the wind energy market in Russia could reach 3.6GW by 2024 with the turnover of about RUB200 billion per year. The potential demand for the construction of wind power units, wind turbines and components in Russia, and also operating and after-sale support services through 2024 is estimated at RUB400 billion.
Earlier, Rosatom approved the establishment of the partnership between its subsidiary OTEK Corporation and the Dutch wind turbine manufacturer Lagerwey for wind power projects.
Sergei Pikin, Head of the Energy Development Fund, noted that “this is a non-nuclear project. However, the technological and engineering capacities help Rosatom continue its strategy of developing clean and carbon-free energy in this area as well. Moreover, there are almost no local producers of equipment for the wind power industry in the country. In order to achieve the localization level of 65%, we need to develop our own production. Rosatom will be working on the project with the Dutch company that has a wealth of expertise in this field.
I would like to note that the wind power industry operates through power delivery contracts (PDC), and there is no competition in this industry in Russia. In the future, the manufactured equipment will likely be sold not only domestically but also to the countries of the CIS and other markets where it will be competitive, for instance, to Latin America. Its competitiveness will depend on the prime cost in Russia and the exchange rate of the Russian ruble. If everything goes fine, I don’t see any reasons for Rosatom not to enter the global market with these products that are quite new for the company.
Initially, it will still be necessary to gain a strong foothold in the domestic market and establish reference facilities in our country. Of course, this does not mean that Rosatom will stop providing nuclear power construction services. The wind power production target of 610MW is nothing compared to the great amount of nuclear power services the company provides. However, branching out into a new industry won’t hurt.
As for the banks that are ready to participate in financing the project that is not typical for Rosatom, there is no surprise that there are volunteers. There is a PDC, a secured cash flow contract, a reliable borrower, so why not participate?
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