OREANDA-NEWS. On July 30, 2007 Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative to the Far East Federal Okrug Kamil Iskhakov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation Andrey Dementyev, Member of the Management Board and Technical Director of RAO "UES of Russia" Boris Vainzikher, and Chairman of the Management Board of OAO "HydroWGC" Vyacheslav Sinyugin held a meeting in Khabarovsk to discuss the current state and development prospects of the electricity sector in the Far East of Russia, reported the press-centre of RAO "UES of Russia".

According to the forecast of the Russian Federation Government, electricity demand will continue to grow by an average of 4,6-6%. In the regions of the Far East Federal Okrug these indicator is somewhat lower, at 3,3-5,5%. In 2011-2015, electricity demand in the Okrug is expected to grow faster than Russia's average, 4,3-8,7% compared to 3,6-4,9% nationwide.

Clearly, in order to fully meet the growing electricity demand, it is necessary to modernize the entire electricity infrastructure of the Okrug. This target is incorporated in the Master Plan for the Location of Energy Facilities until 2020 and the Investment Programme of RAO "UES of Russia" for 2006-2010.

Under the Master Plan, the installed capacity of the regional energy systems will double to 23,400 MW. Electricity generation will increase by 2,5 times, to 97,9 billion kWh in 2020 from 39,2 billion kWh in 2006.

About 1,700 MW of capacity will be created by 2011 under the RAO UES Investment Programme. Over RUB46 billion in funds will be allocated for these capacity expansion projects. They will be financed with the energy companies' own funds and borrowings as well as the proceeds from the Kyoto Protocol projects.

Under the RAO UES Investment Programme, in late 2006, a 180 MW power unit was commissioned at the Khabarovskaya CHPP-3 and the capacity of the Blagoveshchenskaya CHPP will grow by 110 MW in 2009.

Further development of the hydro potential of the Russian Far East rivers will make it possible, by 2010, to increase the capacity of the Bureyskaya HPP in the Amur Region by more than 1,000 MW, put into operation the first 108 MW unit at the Nizhnebureyskaya HPP, and add 90 MW of capacity at the Vilyuyskaya HPP-3 in Yakutia.

In 2007-2015, OAO "UES FGC" will invest over RUB44 billion in the trunk grid facilities in the Far East energy system. Over 4,200 MVA of transformer capacity will be brought on line and the length of 220-500 kV electricity lines will increase by almost 3,500 km.