Wind Farms of Ukraine, one of the two main players in the Ukrainian market, plans to invest more than UAH 3 billion (EUR 276 million) in new wind farms. These are expected to be located in the southern Crimea region.
This year the company plans to start building the 25MW Sakskaya and 100MW Vostochnaya wind farms, as well as expanding Novoazovskiy in the Donetsk region, and start construction of the first stage of the 8MW Kramatorskaya wind farm. Next year, the firm intends to start building wind farms in the Nikolayev and Odessa regions. Utility DTEK plans to extend its Priazovsky wind farm by at least 110MW.
According to the Ukrainian association of alternative fuel and energy producers, total installed wind in the Ukraine reached 300MW last year, a significant increase on the 112MW installed at the end of 2011.
Ukraine had one of the most generous tariff rates for wind power in Europe, at EUR 0.11/kWh, but it expired on 1 January. Wind farm operators must source 30% of equipment domestically in order to qualify for this rate. This could be increased to 50% from 2014, which could slow the rapid development of wind in the Ukraine may be slowed. Also, traditional energy lobbyists have been putting pressure on the government to reduce state support for the industry.
Russia
Although Russia did not add any capacity to its 11MW last year, the country's energy ministry launched a tender for 150MW to be installed by 2014. It followed an announcement by German SoWiTec Group that it wants to invest RUB 6 billion (EUR 148 million) in a 200MW wind farm in eastern Russia to be built by 2014-2015.
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