Fortum-Rusnano wind investment fund has secured 1,000MW wind capacity in Russian wind auction.
The bids have been auctioned for projects to be operational during the years between 2018 and 2022. The projects will be covered under capacity supply agreements (CSA) for a period of 15 years.
Around 1,900MW for the years 2018-2022 has been provided under the Russian wind auctions held from 29 May to 9 June 2017, while the 2,491MW is the total capacity under the projects.
In November 2016, Russian state-owned development firm Rusnano and Fortum have entered into a preliminary cooperation agreement to assess the possibility of creating a wind generation fleet of several hundred megawatts over several years.
In April this year, Fortum and Rusnano signed a 50/50 investment partnership to secure the possibility of a CSA wind portfolio in Russia. Fortum’s equity stake in the joint venture totals a maximum of RUB15bn.
Under the deal, the funding will be invested within five years, while the separate investment decisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis for each possible investment.
According to Fortum, the projects will be financed with the equity invested to the joint venture and local non-recourse debt.
The projects are in line with Fortum's strategy to increase the share of CO2-free generation capacity and overall target of creating a gigawatt-scale wind and solar portfolio.
The company is planning to commission 35MW of wind capacity in Russia this year, which will enable to securing CSA payments for a guaranteed period of 15 years.