OREANDA-NEWS  On 23 September was announced, that in the run-up to the 2008-2009 heating season, much work was done at JSC TGC-1 to ensure that all equipment functions reliably during the autumn and winter peak demand period.

This year the company has plans to commit over 31 billion of its own rubles to a capital development project, to maintenance and to reconstruction.

By the beginning of September, twelve planned complete and mid-life overhauls had been conducted on the primary equipment of the Tsentralnaya, Vasileostrovskaya, Severnaya, Avtovskaya, and Pravoberezhnaya CHPPs and the Narvskaya, Lesogorskaya and Verkhne-Svirskaya Hydro-Electric Stations in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast, in sum total two power generation units, three hydroelectric generators, three power boilers and two turbine electric generators with a combined capacity of 545 MW and 1380 tons of steam per hour.  Also underway is another round of repairs on other power generating systems as part of the coordinated plan, however, these repairs are not having any effect on the provision of current heat energy requirements. 

"It is with pleasure that I note how our energy sources are completely ready today for operation during the winter months,” noted Dmitrii Zaitsev, Deputy Chief Engineer of TGC-1, at a recently-held press conference in St. Petersburg.  “We are currently testing the heating supply systems at the stations and reactivating the grids.  I do not doubt that at the moment the order is given to start the heating season, we can supply heat to the residents of St. Petersburg in full volume without any kind of disruption."

Every CHPP saw its machinery and auxiliary hot water supply equipment undergo technical diagnostics and maintenance to ensure the quality of its heating systems.  In sum total, the company performed maintenance on 1100 shutoff and control valves and around 900 meters (1,000 yards) of grid and circulating water lines at its heating stations during the summer maintenance period.  Fifteen boilers were also cleaned, and smokestacks were overhauled at 4 CHPPs.  

All in all in 08, almost 2 billion rubles have been earmarked for maintenance on proprietary equipment, 120 million higher than in 2007.

As of the 1st of September, JSC TGC-1 electric stations in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast had full fuel reserves amounting to 169.9 thousand tons of fuel oil (targets called for 140 thousand tons) and 248.7 thousand tons of coal (targets were for 20 thousand tons).

Moreover, as of September 1, 2008, maintenance had been performed on over 30 kilometers (almost 19 miles) of the heating grid in St. Petersburg.  In sum total, over four billion rubles, of which 3.95 billion was spent as part of the investment program, was spent on the reconstruction of the heating grid this year.

At the present moment, the company is implementing the largest scale investment program of the last several years. In 2008, the construction of a new power generating unit at Pervomayskaya CHPP-14 continued, while the construction of new power generating units began at Yuzhnaya CHPP-22 and Pravoberezhnaya CHPP-5.  Moreover, the complete modernization of Vyborgskaya CHPP-17 and Vasileostrovskaya CHPP-7 is underway, electric stations #1 and #2 of Tsentralnaya CHPP are undergoing a refit, and the heating supply system of the Tsentralnaya Region is also being completely reconstructed.  The reconstruction of the Volkhovskaya, Kaskadov, Vuoksinskikh, and Svirskikh Hydro-Electric Stations is still underway in the Leningrad Oblast.

JSC TGC-1 has committed almost 29 billion rubles for its investment goals in 2008, an almost two-fold increase from 2007.

Alexander V. Bobrov, Chairman of the Government of St. Petersburg’s Committee for Energy and Engineering Supply, noted the significance of JSC TGC-1’s investment activities in the development of the energy sector of the city at a recently-held press conference: “TGC-1 is currently in the process of implementing a very large heating station reconstruction program which incorporates the consent of Chubais and Matvienko, the company’s investment program, and the general heating and electricity development program of St. Petersburg.  They’re making a huge contribution to the region’s energy sector,” Alexander Bobrov underlined.  “We have not seen the installation of new generating capacities on such a massive scale for several decades.”