December 17, 2018: Rostov Oblast Governor Mr. Vasily Golubev, president of Rusnano MC Mr. Anatoly Chubais, the managing director of Severstal Mr. Alexander Shevelev and the executive president of Spain's Windar Renovables Mr. Orlando Alonso participated in the opening ceremony of the new steel tower production plant in the city of Taganrog.

The manufacturing plant that has begun operations represents a joint venture known as WRS Bashni - the Spanish outfit Windar Renovables will hold 51% stake in the venture, with Rusnano and PAO Severstal having 24.5% each. Windar will supply the technology to build the towers and Severstal supply the steel plate. Towers will be up to 120 meters in height, with a weight of up to 270 tons.


"The wind sector, in which the Grupo Daniel Alonso has a great deal of experience, has a big future on an international level. Windar Renovables, which is leading the project with a 51 percent share in WRS, has found the best partners in Rusnano and Severstal, and therefore we expect a lot to come of this union in the future", said Windar Renovables's executive president.

The WRS Towers plant was built to support a Russian government program for the development of renewable energy. Initial clients will be a joint venture between Rusnano and Fortnum (Finland) and a subsidiary of the joint venture Vetroparki FRV, which was awarded tender projects for a combined capacity of 1.8GW. The turbine supplier Vestas (Danemark) was chosen as a global technology partner, acting as the main equipment supplier.


"The launch of the first steel tower production plant, one of the key components of the wind turbine, is an historic event for Russian energy and mechanical engineering. This makes us confident that Russia will maintain its status as international energy power for generations to come", said Anatoly Chubais, president of Rusnano.