OREANDA-NEWS. On December 25, 2007 an official ceremony was held to bring on line the first phase (220 kV) of the new 500 kV substation, Yemelino, reported the press-centre of RAO UES.

The ceremony was attended by Sverdlovsk Region Governor Eduard Rossel, RAO UES Management Board Chairman Anatoly Chubais, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of OAO "UES FGC" Alexander Chistyakov, and Pavel Lazovsky, Director General of the Urals Transmission Grids Branch of OAO "UES FGC".

The new substation has been built within a very short timeframe of about nine months. It is needed to support the large-scale expansion project underway at the Seversky Pipe Plant. The substation will provide 110 MW of capacity to the plant, which will make it possible to put into operation a modern electric furnace shop.

The project to build the Yemelino Substation will be completed in December 2008. It will provide sufficient power required for the new electric furnace shops to be built at the Pervouralsky Novotrubny Pipe Plant and Nizhne-Serginsky Hardware Plant and to increase the capacity of the Revdinsky Hardware Plant.

Moreover, the new 500 kV substation will help significantly reduce the current load on the Yuzhnaya Substation (500 kV), which plays a key role in the power supply to consumers in the city of Yekaterinburg. The spare capacity of the Yuzhnaya Substation will be used to supply electricity to Yekaterinburg's residential buildings under construction (about 9 million sq.m), specifically, those located in the Akademichesky district in the south-west of the city.

The value of the Yemelino Substation project is estimated at more than RUB3 billion, with the first phase of 220 kV worth RUB770 million. The construction is financed with own funds of OAO "UES FGC" and with the consumer connection charges.