Rogue Russian unit's wind power move 'against explicit instructions'
Finnish state-controlled group says ringfenced PAO Fortum subsidiary 'independently decided' to back auction participation
Finnish state-owned utility Fortum said its Russian subsidiary acted “against explicit instructions” by taking part in a wind power auction as it distanced itself from any new investments there.
Fortum said its Russian subsidiary PAO Fortum has backed participation by one of its own joint ventures, UralEnergoSbyt, in the tender to build new turbine capacity.
The utility said PAO Fortum “has independently decided to accept UralEnergoSbyt's participation in the auction. The decision is against explicit instructions by Fortum Corporation and does not have the parent company approval”.
The statement came in the week that Finland – whose government is majority owner of Fortum – became the latest member of the Nato military alliance in response to the Ukraine invasion.
Fortum is hoping to divest its Russian operations and has ringfenced PAO Fortum, which is operating on a standalone basis.
Fortum before the war was the largest player in Russia’s renewables market, with a portfolio of about 3.4GW of wind and solar farms and development projects, either stand-alone or together with its joint ventures, just part of its sprawling energy sector interests in the Russia.
Fortum said in February it would record additional pre-tax impairments of €990m ($1.06bn) related to its Russia segment in the fourth quarter of 2022 “due to the increasingly complex operating environment and prolonged uncertainty” regarding its activities there.
Like several other major western developers and equipment suppliers, Fortum had big plans to help lead gas-rich Russia’s nascent but potentially significant wind power sector after the country began holding renewable energy auctions in 2013.
Global renewables development giant Enel and wind turbine OEMs Vestas and Siemens Gamesa were among those forced to hastily rethink those plans and exit the country after the Ukraine invasion.
Russia’s wind sector has remined defiant, with the chairman of the national industry association claiming the country can create a “technologically independent wind energy industry”.
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