Together towards cleaner energy in Russia

Published: September 2021

The global challenge of decarbonisation is a high priority for industrial companies operating in Russia. International manufacturing companies with branches in Russia were the first to seek clean energy solutions that would reduce their carbon footprint and thereby improve the competitive position of their exports. Today, more and more Russian companies are joining the fight against climate change and choosing carbon-free forms of energy. As their partner, Fortum strives to help them improve their environmental performance.

Growing demand from industrial customers boosts the clean energy market in Russia and creates opportunities for further development. At the same time, collaborations between energy companies and technology developers are giving rise to new capabilities and attracting clean energy expertise into the country. By working together with the right partners on the construction and generation side as well as on the end user side, Fortum supports Russian communities and businesses in their transition to a low-carbon economy.

Industry shows growing interest towards renewable energy

1. In 2018, Fortum and Unilever signed an agreement on the development of renewable energy sources in Russia, and a similar arrangement with the multinational brewing corporation Anheuser-Busch InBev was launched in 2019. In 2020, green energy generated by the wind farms of Fortum’s joint venture with RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund, the sovereign investment fund of the Russian Federation) in the Rostov region began powering Sberbank’s offices in Ulyanovsk and the French company Air Liquide’s production sites in Tatarstan.
    
2. In 2021, the Fortum-RDIF joint venture signed an agreement to provide electricity generated by wind farms in the Rostov region to a Procter&Gamble plant in Novomoskovsk (Tula region), one of the biggest plants manufacturing home care products in Europe and the main production centre of the company in Russia. We also supply green energy to Leroy Merlin facilities in Tyumen.
    
3. In June 2021, Fortum signed four new Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) concerning green energy in Russia. New MoUs were signed with a natural gas supplier Novatek, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), which is one of the major steel producers in Russia, technology company Baker Hughes, and the global energy company Shell.

Joint ventures building new wind and solar capacity

Currently, Fortum is constructing what will be the largest solar plant in Russia through the Fortum-RDIF joint venture. The first stage of the 116-MW plant, located in the Republic of Kalmykia, will be completed by the end of 2021, and the rest of the project will be finalised in 2022. Once the entire plant is commissioned, the region will be able to cover its energy demand fully with renewables. We selected Hevel Group, Russia’s largest solar equipment manufacturer, as the technology partner for the implementation of its solar energy projects.

Almost 80% of Kalmykia’s electricity demand is already covered by wind farms set up by the Fortum-Rusnano wind investment fund (a joint venture with the Russian innovation development institution Rusnano) and currently owned by the Fortum-RDIF joint venture. Fortum and Rusnano’s jointly established the Fortum-Rusnano wind investment fund to drive wind power development in Russia, with a significant amount of capacity already installed and more to be commissioned by 2024. In 2020, we installed the largest wind power project in Russia so far. Today, we have the largest wind energy portfolio in the country, more than 2 GW, directly and through joint ventures.