Wind Power Industry in Crimea
Wind power industry is experiencing rebirth in Russia
Today on the peninsula there are 4 state-owned wind power plants that operate seven wind farms with 544 wind turbines: Donuzlav Wind Power Plant (total capacity 18.7 MW), VodEnergoRemnaladka (26 MW), Tarkhankut Wind Power Plant (15.9 MW), and East-Crimean Wind Power Plant. Since the beginning of operation, they have developed more than 300 million kW/h. In addition, there are 16 projects for the construction of WPPs using wind installations of 2–3 MW each
Here is a short video on Donuzlav Wind Power Plant:
The main obstacle for development of green energy in the Crimea is the high cost of equipment and long payback. For example, mini-station with capacity of 5 Kw, capable for needs of average household, will cost for its owner almost 500 thousand rubles and pay off will be at about 10 years.
Nevertheless, small solar and wind power plants, which are actively conquering the market all over the world, will gradually reduce the load on the grid in the Crimea and significantly reduce electricity consumption.
Kerch WPP LLC is the largest and so far, the only privately owned wind energy company in Russia. There are plans to build four more stations with a total capacity of 420 MW. The Stepnaya WPP with installed capacity of 282.5 MW should be in Pervomaisky.
In addition it is planned to build “Eastern” wind farm with a capacity of 100 Mw in the Leninsky district, “Prisivashskaya” wind farm with a capacity of 25 Mw in Sovetsky district and “Zolno” wind power plant with a capacity of 12.5 megawatts in Saksky district. Preparations for their construction has already begun.
Wind measurements were made at construction sites with the involvement of European certified companies, land was allocated, design and survey work was completed, and the working documentation was ready for Vostochnaya and Prisivashskaya stations. However, the implementation of projects is delayed indefinitely. The problem is that the mechanism for returning investments in renewable energy facilities is not yet available to investors in Crimea. And without it, alternative energy cannot compete with traditional thermal and atomic. In Ukraine the role of the return mechanism was played by the so-called green tariff – raising factor with which the state bought electricity generated by solar and wind stations.
Similar projects exist in Russia, but these preferences are not yet available for Crimean companies. An investor can count return on investment for 15 years when signing relevant contract and observing several conditions. First of all the level of localization of the project in the Russian Federation already in 2016 should be no less than 25 percent with gradual increase in the domestic component to 65 percent by 2019.
In addition renewable energy facilities should be participants in the wholesale electricity market of the unified energy system of the Russian Federation, the amount of capital expenditures for the construction of one such facility should not exceed 110 thousand rubles per Mw of installed capacity. Alas, it is not necessary to count on return on investment in the already operating project of Ostaninskaya WPP: its equipment is almost completely imported.
Source:
Ye Yu Lukyanova et al 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 459 062056 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/459/6/062056
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/459/6/062056