Hevel commissions 25 MW solar facility in Russia’s Orenbung region

Russia’s solar module producer and project developer Hevel Solar, a joint venture between Russian industrial conglomerate Renova Group and nanotechnologies provider JSC Rusnano, has commissioned a 25 MW solar plant in Sol-Iletsk, a town in Orenburg Oblast, southwestern Russia.

According to a press release from the regional government, the facility was built at a cost of RUB 2.75 billion (around $49 million). All the PV components used in the project, including the solar modules, were manufactured in Russia, the government added. This gives right to higher FITs, in accordance with the Russian legislation for renewable energies.

The CEO of Hevel Igor Shahrai said that the company is implementing five more PV projects in the region. These projects will require an aggregate investment of RUB 10 billion ($178.2 million) and are all scheduled to come online by the end of 2019. The government of the Orenburg region, on the other hand, aims at deploying 200 MW of large-scale PV capacity by 2020.

Hevel already launched the 5 MW Perevolotskaya solar plant in the Orenburg Region in May 2015. The plant is delivering power to local utility IDGC of Volga, JSC, a unit of Rosseti Group of Companies.

Hevel has a solar project portfolio of over 300 MW in Russia. All these projects will be developed under the country’s FIT scheme for solar and renewables. Through this policy, the Russian government hopes to install at least 1.5 GW of PV capacity by 2020.