Vestas Ships First Order of Turbine Blades Produced in Russian Factory

Danish renewable energy giant Vestas has exported the first batch of turbine blades from its new manufacturing facility in Russia, Recharge News reports.

The 48 components were shipped from the plant in Ulyanovsk, jointly set up by Russian entities Rusnano and the Ulnanotech center, to Denmark.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov attended an event to mark the milestone.

“This event is important not only for the renewable energy sector but also for our country’s economy as a whole. Such projects also need to be replicated and we have supported and will continue to support the creation of high-tech industries in this area,” Borisov said.

Ulyanovsk Oblast Governor Sergey Morozov said the region “intends to further develop not only production capacities in the region but also build new wind parks.”

These include plans to build another 250MW of wind capacity, he said.

To date 435MW of wind is operational in Russia and 300MW is under construction across the country, Morozov added.

The exports from Russian production come after Vestas increasingly is closing manufacturing in northern European countries with high labor costs, although the company claims those cuts were carried out to meet the manufacturing requirements of its changing product portfolio.