3 Dec 2019 15:35

Hevel commissions solar plants in Orenburg, Astrakhan regions

ORENBURG/ASTRAKHAN. Dec 3 (Interfax) - The Hevel group of companies has commissioned new solar power plants in the Orenburg and Astrakhan regions.

The 25 MW Dombarovskaya plant was linked up to the Orenburg region's grid on December 1, the regional government said in a statement.

It will generate 30 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enabling the region to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 16,000 tonnes and saving it up to 4 million cubic meters of gas per year.

All the plant's components, including the heterostructure batteries, were made in Russia.

Hevel has built and commissioned the 5 MW Perevolotskaya, 25 MW Sol-Iletskaya, 30 MW Chkalovskaya, 10 MW Grigoryevskaya, 25 MW Yelshanskaya and 10 MW Pleshanovskaya and 10 MW Grachevskaya solar plants in the Orenburg region. The latter two were sold to PJSC Fortum in 2017.

The Orenburg region has a total of 13 solar power plants, including those operated by the T Plus Group , with overall capacity of 285 MW.

Hevel said in a press release of its own that it had launched the 30 MW Limanskaya solar power plant in the Astrakhan region on December 1. This will produce 35 million kWh of electricity per year.

Hevel has already built the 15 MW Niva solar power plant, 60 MW Funtovskaya plant and 60 MW Akhtubinskaya plant in the region. It received the rights to build solar plants in the region after acquiring the solar power project portfolio in the summer of 2017.

Reports have said Hevel would invest up to 20 billion rubles building four plants with combined capacity of 165 MW in the region.

Hevel was created in 2009 as a joint venture of Rosnano and Renova and is Russia's largest integrated solar-energy company. In November 2018, Rusnano signed an agreement on the sale of 49% of Hevel to Mikhail Sivoldayev's Ream Management, which already owned 5%. It thus came to hold a controlling stake of 54%.