Translated material
Wind in projects
Czech-Swiss Falkon is trying to gain a foothold in the Russian power industry
The notorious Czech-Swiss investment group Falkon Capital , which participated in a scheme to pay off Russia's debt to the Czech Republic in 2001, announced large-scale plans for the construction of wind power plants in Russia. This was reported yesterday by the Prague newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes, citing the head of the company, Josef Cimbora. According to him, the group is ready to invest 1.5 billion euros in the construction of wind power plants in Kalmykia.At the first stage, Falkon plans to build 42 stations with a total capacity of 150 MW (for this, the company has already attracted a loan of 100 million euros), and then increase the capacity to 600 MW. “We have already bought two turbines, and they are already in Russia,” said Mr. Chimbora. To operate in Elista, Falkon Capital established the Alten company. And in 2006, it agreed with the authorities of Kalmykia on the joint construction of turbines at 22 sites in the region. However, Russian experts point out that if the Czech-Swiss group starts building wind power plants now, then this business could turn out to be very, very risky: our country has not yet adopted a law on renewable energy sources, and therefore it is not clear whether such projects will have any -or preferences. Without them, in most cases it is still cheaper to build power plants using fossil fuels, since the payback period for wind power plants often exceeds their service life.
The President of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has been dreaming of building many wind power plants for a long time. In 2001, he agreed with one of the structures of RAO UES of Russia, which was then headed by Vladimir Avetisyan, a member of the board of the energy holding, to complete the construction of 25 units with a capacity of 1 MW each, laid down in the mid-1990s. However, the project was not implemented. It was 40% funded - it was possible to purchase components for several stations and build nine foundations on which it was subsequently planned to install generators. Sources close to Mr. Avetisyan claim that it was simply unprofitable to build: the equipment is not mass-produced in Russia, and therefore it is too expensive. But the energy sector failed to reach an agreement with the regional authorities on an increase in electricity tariffs. As a result, Kalmykia still has an energy deficit (of about 150 MW), which is covered by flows from other regions.
In connection with the restructuring of RAO, HydroOGK is now engaged in non-traditional energy. This company also has broad plans to work in Kalmykia. It launched its first 1 MW wind turbine in December and aims to build eight more by 2010 (after which the company will decide on the remaining 13 sites). The volume of investments, as the company reported then, will be about 400 million rubles. ($16.5 million). Thus, HydroOGK estimates the construction of 1 MW at $1.8 million, and Falkon Capital at more than $3 million. However, if HydroOGK is going to order Russian equipment, then Falkon, as Vremya Novostei sources say "on the energy market - in Europe.
Why Kalmykia needs such a powerful electric power infrastructure is an open question. Advisor to the head of HydroOGK, Anatoly Kopylov, says that for now it is not a question of whether someone will “stake out” the Kalmyk market or “not stake out”: “There is a lot of space there, enough for everyone.” However, if this company's plans are limited solely to the region, then it is clear that Falkon's interests extend beyond its borders. It cannot be ruled out that they extend to relatively nearby Georgia, where the group also has electricity assets.
The supply of Russian energy for export is supervised by Andrey Rappoport, member of the board of RAO, head of the Federal Grid Company and chairman of the board of directors of the export operator Inter RAO UES. Sources of Vremya Novostei suggest that he, like the financiers of RAO, participated in the transaction to write off Russia’s debt to the Czech Republic in the amount of $3.6 billion. As is known, in 2001, then Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov agreed with the authorities of the republic to write off part of this debt amounted to $2.5 billion. This amount was then purchased by Falkon (for how much is unknown) and resold to structures close to RAO at a discount. The Russian government ended up owing them $1.35 billion (various sources estimated the amount for which the energy holding bought the debt at $580 million). To purchase the debt from the Czech government, Falkon took out a loan, and RAO agreed to pay interest on it in the amount of $30 million through export supplies of electricity. And Mr. Rappoport was precisely responsible for these deliveries. Initially, it was planned that supplies would go according to a substitution scheme through Belarus, however, apparently, Minsk did not want to participate in this scheme.
Experts do not rule out that as a result, Inter RAO, which bought almost all the shares of the Moldavian State District Power Plant in Transnistria, and then resold some of them to an unknown buyer, somehow involved this very power plant in the old deal with Falkon. The fact is that sources in Tiraspol claimed that the buyer of part of the shares of the Moldavian State District Power Plant are the structures of the Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Firtash. And according to the Czech newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes, Falkon’s top managers are precisely this businessman’s associates. It is noteworthy that in 2006, Mr. Firtash’s structures acquired the Astrakhan Oil Company - it is located in the region neighboring Kalmykia. True, this deal was canceled last year on direct orders from the Kremlin. However, Falkon had already completed projects for the construction of wind power plants, and, apparently, the company is not going to abandon them. On the contrary, it follows the European trend of increasing energy capacity that does not use fossil fuels.
However, as Mr. Kopylov from HydroOGK says, the prospects for wind energy in Russia, unlike other countries, are still vague. All over the world, he said, with rare exceptions, the cost of energy generated by wind power plants is higher than that generated by thermal power plants. In November last year, among the amendments to the legislation on the electric power industry, Mr. Kopylov recalls, there was one that instructed the government to develop a bill on renewable energy sources. The government has begun this work, but the main question - whether there will be an increase in the tariff for environmental energy and, if so, what kind, to whom and on what conditions - is still open.