Wind power in Russia

refer to caption
Wind turbine near an Omni Hotel, Murmansk. The wind power potential of Murmansk Oblast is one of the largest among regions of Russian.

Wind power in Russia has a long history of small-scale use, but the country has not yet developed large-scale commercial wind energy production. Most of its current limited wind production is located in agricultural areas with low population densities, where connection to the main energy grid is difficult. By 2018, Russia had a total installed wind capacity of 106 MW, a nearly ten-fold increase over 2016 but still a tiny share of the country’s potential.[1]

Russia is estimated to have a total potential of 80,000 TWh/yr for wind energy, 6,218 TWh/yr of which is economically feasible.[2] Most of this potential is found in the southern steppes and the seacoasts of the country, although in many of these areas the population density is very low, at less than 1 person per km2. This low population density means that there is little existing electricity infrastructure currently in place, which hinders development of these resources.[3]

Current Russian wind energy projects have a combined capacity of over 1,700 MW, although less than 17 MW had been installed as of the end of 2010. The Russian Wind Energy Association predicts that if Russia achieves its goal of having 4.5% of its energy come from renewable sources by 2020, the country will have a total wind capacity of 7,000 MW.[4]

In 2010, plans for the construction of a wind power plant in Yeisk, on the Sea of Azov, were announced. It is expected to initially have a capacity of 50 MW, which will become 100 MW a year later.[citation needed] German engineering company Siemens announced in July 2010, following a visit to Russia by Chancellor Angela Merkel, that it would build wind power plants in Russia.[5] By 2015, the company hoped to install 1,250 MW of capacity in Russia.[4] As of 2015, capacity was only 15.4 MW.[6]

  1. ^ Kudelin, Artem; Kutcherov, Vladimir (1 March 2021). "Wind ENERGY in Russia: The current state and development trends". Energy Strategy Reviews. 34: 100627. doi:10.1016/j.esr.2021.100627. ISSN 2211-467X. S2CID 233846279.
  2. ^ "2007 Survey of Energy Resources" (PDF). World Energy Council 2007. 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  3. ^ Renewables: The Energy for the 21st Century. World Renewable Energy Congress VI. 1–7 July 2000. ISBN 9780080540511. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  4. ^ a b Honey Garcia (16 July 2011). "Siemens makes a bid for Russia's wind power through joint venture". Ecoseed. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  5. ^ Trevor Sievert (23 July 2010). "Russia- Russian Wind Power". Industry News. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  6. ^ "Wind in Power, 2015 European statistics" (PDF). European Wind Energy Association. 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2016.