OREANDA-NEWS. The Conference "RAO UES Restructuring: an Impetus to the Development of Russia's Electrical Engineering Sector" is held today in Moscow. The Conference is attended by Anatoly Chubais, Chairman of the Management Board , RAO "UES of Russia; Andrey Deineko, Director of Industrial Department of the Russian Federation Ministry of Industry and Energy; Boris Vainzikher, Technical Director, RAO "UES of Russia"; Alexander Chistyakov, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, OAO "UES FGC"; and Valentin Gapanovoch , Vice President and Chief Engineer, OAO "Russian Railways".

Among the 400 event participants are chief executives and senior officers of power equipment manufacturers and RAO UES companies responsible for shaping the technical policy and implementing the investment programme, as well as representatives of the energy-related scientific and research centers.

The key issue to be discussed at the Conference is the RAO UES Investment Programme for 2006-2010 and its influence of the development prospects of the Russia's electricity sector. By way of reminder, the total value of finance required for the projects under the Investment Programme is estimated at over RUB3 trillion.

The construction of and modernization of the existing power facilities will generate massive demand for all types of electrical equipment, such as power transformers, voltage/current transformers, cables, controlled devices, equipment for secondary systems, etc. from Russia's generation and power grid companies. It is expected that, after the five-year Investment Programme of RAO "UES of Russia" is implemented, the procurements of high-voltage equipment alone will double to RUB19.5 billion annually. The total value of the future market of this type of electrical equipment until 2010 is estimated at nearly RUB100 billion.

In this connection, it is becoming especially important to assess the demand for electrical equipment from RAO UES companies and the capability to meet that demand, as well as the technical requirements to such equipment and the improvement of cooperation practices with the equipment manufacturers. The event participants will discuss these and other issues within the framework of several roundtable sessions.