Located in Volgodonsk (Rostov Region, Russia) at Rosatom’s power engineering centre Atommash, NovaWind Plant manufactures wind turbine components and assemblies.
The plant's building and cranes were retrofitted and upgraded to meet wind turbine production requirements. Investments in the plant infrastructure exceeded RUB 1.7 billion.
The plant in Volgodonsk occupies an area of 30,000 sq m.
Its annual production capacity is about 120 wind turbines per year.
The staff comprises over 320 production, engineering and administrative employees.
Following the upgrade programme, the plant in Volgodonsk was divided into five assembly departments:
Generator stator
Main bearing
Generator
Hub
Nacelle
In 2020, the wind turbine production reached its design capacity.
Employees of the plant are trained in a dedicated classroom equipped with VR (virtual reality) training aids. Trainees put on VR glasses and move into a virtual assembly department. Using different tools, they go through the entire assembly process stage by stage. With the training software, employees can either master all assembly stages (wind turbine nacelles, hubs and generators) or, if any difficulties arise, individual operations. The VR training course was developed specially for NovaWind to train its employees in the assembly of wind turbine components.
The plant is now in full operation. The wind farms commissioned by NovaWind in 2021 use parts and components fully produced and assembled in Russia. The company has acquired all the competencies needed to increase the share of local content in its wind energy projects and export its services and equipment. The new competencies enable the company to participate in the Renewable Energy Development Programme 2.0. The use of locally produced components is an inherent part of NovaWind’s foreign market expansion strategy.