Novatek seeks wind energy to power Russian LNG plant

Russia's Novatek said on January 12 it had signed a deal with Finland's Fortum to secure electricity from Russian wind farms to power an LNG plant it is building on the Baltic Sea.

The agreement builds on a memorandum that the two companies signed in June last year. Under the deal, Novatek's Cryogas-Vysotsk facility in the port of Vysotsk will purchase the wind energy to reduce its Scope 2 emissions.

"Using green energy to power natural gas liquefaction is an effective way to reduce the LNG's carbon footprint," Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said in a statement. "This is an emerging area of activity for us and we are considering various ways of using wind power in our LNG projects."

Mikhelson said purchasing third-party renewable energy would also spur the development of wind farms in Russia. The wind industry is still at a relatively nascent stage in Russia, although the government has launched a large-scale series of auctions in recent years to develop new projects.