Covid-19 Did Not Stop Russia’s Largest Windmill Park

In September 2019, construction of a gigantic windmill park along the coast of the Kola peninsula north of Murmansk, Russia commenced. When finished, the park will consist of 57 windmills producing 750 gigawatt hours annually.

Italian Enel and its subsidiary Enel Green Power are to construct the windmill park, and Bellona is advisor to the project.

In a press release, Enel says the project has not been particularly delayed by Covid-19 and that construction continues as scheduled.

Senor Advisor for Energy at Bellona Murmansk, Yuri Sergeyev, says to High North news that he hopes this project can inspire more renewable energy projects in Russia.

“If a windmill park of this capacity can function in this climate, it will be easier for regions with more beneficial conditions to focus more on wind power.”

“Wind conditions in the Murmansk region are very good, however, the production of wind power this far north may also be troublesome due to challenging logistics and other technical challenges, such as wind turbines freezing and getting stuck”, he says.

Kolskaya Windmill Park will be the greatest windmill park in Russia and the largest windmill park north of the Arctic Circle once it is completed in 2021.

The Corona virus caused problems for several Chinese wind turbine producers and the production of turbines was halted for some time. This has caused global problems for the wind power industry.

According to figures from the International Agency for Renewable Energy, wind turbine production will probably drop by 30 percent before the end of 2020.

This article was originally published in Norwegian and has been translated by HNN's Elisabeth Bergquist.