Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant. Photo: Ilya Naimushin/Sputnik.
Moscow will reportedly replace German-made turbines as western sanctions prevent these from receiving maintenance
Russia will replace German-made turbines in its hydroelectric plants with Iranian-made ones after Berlin-based multinational Siemens pulled its operations out of the country due to western sanctions.
According to a report by state-owned RT News, Moscow has already started to produce the parts designed in Iran to replace Siemens turbines in their plants.
Sanctions imposed on the Kremlin following the military invasion of Ukraine have reportedly impeded the servicing of German-made equipment.
Siemens Has Not Repaired Nord Stream 1 Turbine, Says Gazprom
Siemens Energy in August said it might sell or wind down its Russian business and that it was in touch with public authorities to work through the details. The company has already sold part of its business to local Russian businesses.
While Russia can produce small and medium turbines, large capacity turbines of between 100-120 megawatts were assembled at a Siemens factory inside the country.
Moscow and Tehran signed a contract last year that calls for the Islamic Republic to provide their ally with 40 turbines to help its gas industry.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia and Iran have deepened their bonds of cooperation as a way to overcome unilateral western sanctions that have affected both nations’ industries.
As a result, last month, the two countries integrated their interbank communication and transfer systems to help enhance trade and financial operations. As such, 52 Iranian and 106 Russian banks are now connected through the Russian Financial Message Transfer System.
After almost a year of the Ukraine war, only 9 percent of nearly 1,500 global companies have left the Russian market, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky revealed in January.
“Among the Western companies remaining to work in Russia, the largest share is German [with 19.5 percent], 12.4 percent are American, and 7 percent are Japanese. In particular, the following remained to work in the terrorist state: METRO, Leroy Merlin, Auchan, Nestle, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Bayer, Acer, Alibaba, CloudFlare, Societe Generale, Credit Suisse, Lenovo, Asus, Cersanit and the like.”
