OREANDA-NEWS. June 1, 2012. JSC RusHydro (ticker symbol: MICEX-RTS, LSE: HYDR; OTCQX: RSHYY) announces that it signed a contract with the leading Russian manufacturer of power equipment - Power Machines - for 10 hydraulic turbines and 22 hydro-generators with a capacity of 144.5 MW each for a comprehensive modernization of Europe's largest Volzhskaya hydropower plant. Power Machines will supply the equipment and services from 2013 through 2021, and provide the whole range of services associated with installation and launch of the new equipment.

RusHydro has been carrying out a program of technical modernization and upgrade of Volzhskaya hydropower plant since 2005, aiming to fully replace the obsolete and worn-out generating and auxiliary equipment with brand new. As of now, 8 out of 22 hydro-turbines designated for refit have been replaced. The modernization will increase the reliability of operations of the power plant, and will make available additional capacity.

The ongoing contract between RusHydro and Power Machines, signed in 2010, provides for modernization of 4 turbines by 2013.

Volzhskaya hydropower is the largest hydroelectric power plant in Europe and the Volga-Kama cascade. Its installed capacity is 2,595.5 MW, annual average electricity generation amounts to 11.1 TWh. The plant comprises 23 hydro-units, of which 15 are 115 MW each, 4 - 120 MW, 3 - 125.5 MW and 1 - 11 MW. The construction of Volzhskaya started in the 1950s and as of 1961 the hydropower plant was fully operational.