OREANDA-NEWS. December 19, 2011. “Russia has not commissioned this many power facilities per year in a quarter of a century. All this is the result of these large-scale programmes that we have approved, and that we have been consistently implementing over the past few years, even in spite of well-known problems associated with efforts to overcome the crisis of 2009-2010. This is the result of the joint work of the government, the regions and the business community …“.
Vladimir Putin’s opening remarks:

Good afternoon, colleagues.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station has seen its fifth hydropower generation unit come into operation. Importantly, this new unit was built after the accident to more advanced specifications, including higher safety standards and increased reliability. The plan is to replace all the plant’s 10 turbines over the next three years. Some of the new units have already been delivered to the plant, and are waiting to be installed. The overhauled plant will come back on stream by the end of 2014. As you can see, it is already operational, but the repair work is to be completed by 2014. Let me stress that over 80% of the new equipment will be supplied by Russian engineering companies, mainly the Power Machines Group. I have visited the plants regularly to monitor progress. I should say how much I appreciate everyone’s contribution to the station’s repair and modernisation, including the workers here at the dam, those working at power engineering plants, as well as the road builders who built a whole new road enabling these large units to be delivered. I would like to thank everyone for their valuable and effective work.

Today we have an opportunity to discuss not only issues arising during the repair work to the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam, but also the development targets for Russia’s power generation industry and the way it influences the national economy on a broader scale. A series of large and important energy projects are currently being implemented in Russia. They are in part financed by companies, such as the hydropower generation modernisation programme, while others use project-financing schemes (the Nizhne-Kureiskaya hydroelectric power station in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Leningradskaya pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant). But there is a third group of projects that are aimed at boosting the reliability of power supplies to towns and villages. These projects have a high degree of social significance and are therefore entitled to government financial support. This is naturally only appropriate, so we will continue this work.

This includes the Nizhnyaya Bureya Hydro Power Station, the Zelenchuk Hydro/Hydro-Accumulation Power Station, the experimental-commercial Severnaya (Northern) Tidal Power Station, as well as small hydro power stations in the Stavropol Territory and the North Caucasus. I would like to ask the Ministry of Finance and Vnesheconombank to look into determining sources of funding, so that we can facilitate the additional capitalisation of RusHydro and implement investment programmes in line with a list of protected companies. This list should also be modified.

For its part, RusHydro must reduce selling prices for consumers by 12.5% in 2012. These figures have been calculated, they are feasible, and I am asking you to carry this out.

On the whole, the power industry is showing good results by the end of the year. I would like to thank you once again for this. Power units have been commissioned at the Yaivinskaya and Sredneuralskaya (Middle Urals) state district power stations, the Surgut State District Power Station No. 2 and the Nevinnomyssk State District Power Station in the Urals and in southern Russia. A week ago, we commissioned a new one gigawatt reactor at the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant. This facilitates a more reliable power supply to Central Russian regions. The first stage of the Boguchansk Hydro Power Station has been completed here, in Siberia. I would like to remind you that construction of this station was launched in 1979. Subsequently, the entire project was abandoned, as has happened often in the past few decades. We resumed work on the project later on. To the best of my knowledge, this took place between 2005 and 2008. The Boguchansk Hydro Power Station will already be put on stream in the summer of 2012. This means that the Siberian power grid will receive an additional gigawatt of electricity being generated by a cost-effective hydro power station.

In all, an additional capacity of over six gigawatts of new power-generating facilities were commissioned throughout 2011. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this is the most that the national power industry has seen since 1985. Construction projects were implemented until 1985. After that, the process began to slow down, eventually stopping completely. Russia has not commissioned this many power facilities per year in a quarter of a century. All this is the result of these large-scale programmes that we have approved, and that we have been consistently implementing over the past few years, even in spite of well-known problems associated with efforts to overcome the crisis of 2009-2010. This is the result of the joint work of the government, the regions and the business community, as well as direct and sometimes tough dialogues concerning the fulfillment of our companies’ investment obligations. I remember meeting here at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydro Power Station. I seem to recall that we did not meet in this hall, or perhaps it has been renovated because it was not as beautiful in the past as it is now. So, we met at this station and discussed, among other things, the need for companies involved in Russia’s power industry, as well as private companies, to fulfill their obligations. As far as I can remember, the discussion was quite tough. I would like to note that you have fulfilled virtually all of your obligations, which are worth 2.2 trillion roubles. Thank you very much for this.

As for the power-generating industry, one can safely say that the country has overcome all crises. The nationwide parametres that have been attained exceed even Soviet-era volumes. Over the next three years, an additional three trillion roubles will go towards these purposes. There are plans to invest one trillion roubles in the grid infrastructure from 2012 to 2014. And 1.9 trillion roubles will be invested in the creation of new power-generating sources.

We need to create a powerful energy foundation for our overall national development and industrial growth, and to develop new territories and the vast expanses of our country, to facilitate a reliable base of power-generation for the operation of the housing/municipal utilities infrastructure and the social sphere. Moreover, we should not forget that the modernisation of the power industry’s infrastructure creates a substantial demand for science, engineering centres, as well as such affiliated sectors as engineering and the construction industry.

In the past ten years, nationwide power consumption has soared by almost 20%. Analysts believe that such a trend will continue, and that power consumption will increase by 20-22 gigawatts by 2020. The Russian economy is showing sustained growth, and we must facilitate its development by creating adequate national energy resources. Aside from building new power generating facilities, we must prioritise the modernisation of the so-called old facilities. I would especially like to point out that we must make principled and timely decisions on the decommissioning of such facilities in the event that there is no economic rationale for their modernisation. In particular, this should be done in order to minimise consumer expenses, because all old power generation facilities are less effective than new ones, and their expenses are ultimately taken on by the consumers.