OREANDA-NEWS. JSC RusHydro (ticker symbol: MICEX-RTS, LSE: HYDR; OTCQX: RSHYY) announces that a new hydropower unit was commissioned and put into commercial operation at the Company's Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, adding 640 MW to the plant’s capacity.

The rehabilitation and comprehensive modernization of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP consists of three stages and will be completed in 2014.

The new hydropower unit was put into commercial operation on March 4, 2013. Currently, the working capacity of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is 3,200 MW with five 640 MW units in operation. The restoration of four units of the plant continues.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant will be fully equipped with new up-to-date equipment with enhanced performance characteristics that meet all safety and reliability requirements by 2014.The useful life of the new units has been extended to 40 years and maximum efficiency now reaches 96.6%. They also have improved energy and cavitation features. The turbines will be fitted with a more efficient process protection system, which will automatically shut down the unit in case of any inadmissible deviations from controlled parameters.