DUSHANBE, March 5, 2009, Asia-Plus — Chairman of the board of Russia’s state-owned electricity trading and holding company, open joint-stock company (OJSC) Inter RAO YeES (Unified Energy Systems), Yevgeny Dod, has arrived in Tajikistan to discuss completion of construction of the Russian-built Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) and delivery of the station to the customer on a turnkey basis.
The meeting to consider the mentioned issues has been held at the site of the Sangtuda-1 station today. The meeting participants, in particular, discussed the issue of introduction of the last fourth unit of the station into operation. The first three units of the station ere put into operation last year.
We will recall that the RAO YeES press service reported on March 3 that introduction of the last fourth unit of the Russian-built Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) into operation is scheduled for late March. At present they are working on bring the station dam to the design reference mark, bringing the reservoir to normal headwater level and assembling the segment water gates, the press service said.
The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed a government-to-government agreement.
Russia retains a 75 percent share in the power plant, which will generate a projected 2.7 billion kWh of electricity per annum. The power station will have an estimated capacity of 670 MW.
Inter RAO, YeES, incorporated in 2008 as an open type corporation, is a successor to the eponymous company, Inter RAO YeES (CJSC), a closed type corporation established by RAO YeES in May 1997 with the purpose of consolidating energy generation and sales on foreign markets. As of July, 2008, Inter RAO stock is owned by state-owned Rosatom (60%) and Rosenergoatom (40%), however, the company statute allows divestment of non-controlling shares to private investors.
