OREANDA-NEWS. Vagit Alekperov, OAO LUKOIL President, and Alexander Zhilkin, Governor of the Astrakhan region, took part in a festive ceremony dedicated to the commissioning of the second block of a combined-cycle plant, CCP-235, with an overall capacity of 235 MW, in Astrakhan today.

The 115-MW power unit has been constructed near the Tsentralnaya boiler house in Astrakhan under the Power Delivery Contract (PDC). The first stage of the station, a 120-MW power unit, was commissioned on July 1, 2013.

The electric efficiency factor of the new CCP-235 exceeds 51%, making it compliant with the world's highest standards. Compared with the existing steam-power thermal plants, this CCP makes it possible to cut the specific fuel consumption 1.5 times and to reduce air-pollutant emissions 2-3 times. Operating in the heat-extraction mode, the new station will ensure a high fuel-utilization factor.

The CCP-235 has sufficient heat-generation capacity to supply Babayevsky district of Astrakhan with due account for its future development.

Under the Power Delivery Contract, LUKOIL had previously commissioned a CCP-110 at the Astrakhan State District Power Plant in 2011 and a CCP-410 at the Krasnodar Central Heating and Power Plant in 2012.