RAO Energy System of East, the largest supplier of electricity and heating in the Russian far east, is planning to build wind farms on both sides of the Russian-North Korean border during the next two years.

Two projects would be in the territory of the Russian Primorye region, to the north of the border with North Korea, and two others inside North Korea in the Rason trade and economic zone, said Alex Kaplun, RAO’s deputy head of department of strategy and investments.

A feasibility study is being conducted this summer. The wind farms are expected to be officially commissioned in 2016 or 2017.

All the energy generated by the wind farms will be supplied to North Korea, with the possibility of further exports to South Korea and Japan.

This would be the first time that power will be regularly exported from Russia to North Korea.

According to Anatoly Kopylov, head of the supervisory board of the Russian Wind Energy Association, the volume of investments in the project may vary in the range of $55-62 million.

RAO Energy System of East has four wind turbines with a total capacity of 1.075MW operating in isolated areas of the far east of Russia. The company plans to commission two wind diesel projects - 0.9 MW in Kamchatka region and 0.5 MW in Sakhalin region, in Q3 2015, according to the company. It has a plan to install up to 120MW of renewable energy, but with no set date.



