Russia's Forenergo commissions glass insulator plant with capacity of 5 mln units per year in Chelyabinsk
CHELYABINSK. Dec 16 (Interfax) - The Forenergo production association, a major Russian manufacturer of insulators and fittings for power grids, has launched a glass insulator plant, JSC ZSI, in Yuzhnouralsk in the Chelyabinsk region, according to the company's website.
The plant has a capacity of over 5 million units per year.
ZSI was built on the premises of the bankrupt Yuzhnouralsk Radio Ceramics Plant, whose assets Forenergo acquired in 2023.
"This is the second plant in Yuzhnouralsk for producing glass insulators for our holding. With its launch, the group's total output [including the YuMEK plant] will reach approximately 11 million glass insulators per year. Today, the holding produces all types of insulators used both in Russia and abroad," Forenergo's Director for Government and Public Relations Ella Irmukhametova told Interfax.
Investment in the construction of ZSI is estimated at approximately 900 million rubles, with an additional 300 million rubles allocated by the holding for renovation and expanding production at YuMEK, Irmukhametova said.
"Forenergo operates seven enterprises with about 900 employees in the Chelyabinsk region. In 2025, construction of two more plants will begin - one for varistor production and another for casting," she said.
Yuzhnouralsk Radio Ceramics Plant was declared bankrupt in 2021. In April 2022, the Chelyabinsk region's Industry Ministry said that Forenergo had become the investor for a project to restart production using the plant's assets, which were then leased to YUZRK Group. Production of several types of ceramics was launched at that time. In spring 2023, YUZRK Group won the right to purchase the plant's assets in an auction held as part of the bankruptcy process.
According to the group's website, Forenergo comprises more than 20 enterprises, including JSC YuMEK in Yuzhnouralsk, which produces suspended glass insulators; Volta in Yuzhnouralsk producing porcelain post insulators; Energia+21 in Uvelsky village, Chelyabinsk region, manufacturing polymer insulators and surge arresters; MZVA-ChEMZ in the Nizhny Novgorod region, producing line fittings for high-voltage lines and fittings for self-supporting insulated wires and mounting tools; Insta and Energotransizolyator in Perm Territory which produce polymer insulators and Forenergo-Engineering in Moscow which focuses on design, R&D and testing.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, 50% of Forenergo's charter capital is owned by NPP Ekvod LLC, in which 31% belongs to Forenergo President Nikolai Karasev and 20% to the holding's first vice president, Evgeny Yudanov. The other 50% of Forenergo is owned by Corporate Fellowship LLC, with 51% held by its CEO, Evgeny Sobolev and 25% by Forenergo First Vice President Vitaly Kobzev.
