OREANDA-NEWS. JSC RusHydro (ticker symbol: MOEX, LSE: HYDR; OTCQX: RSHYY) announces that a new hydropower unit has been commissioned at the Company's Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, adding another 640 MW to 7 hydropower units in operation. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, participated in the ceremony of hydro-unit launch through videoconference with the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP as a part of his visit to the Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP in the Amurskiy region, which is currently under construction.

The unit No.4 was one of the least affected during the accident and was put into operation in August 2010 after repair. In two years the unit was decommissioned to replace the equipment. During this period the unit had been operating in the base mode and had produced 11.5 GWh of electricity. Within the reconstruction works all main and auxiliary equipment of the unit had been replaced: turbine, generator, control system, excitation system and various protection systems. The testing program included 72 hours of work under load.

Currently, the working capacity of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is 5,120 MW with the following units in operation: No. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The Company plans to launch hydro units No. 2 and 3, which are still under reconstruction, in June and October 2014 respectively. After that, the plant will reach its full project capacity of 6400 MW.

Construction of the Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP started on August 27, 2010. As of now all necessary infrastructure for construction works has been created, an earthfill link was built in the river bed and foundation pit was dried up, the right dam has been constructed, concreting of the transition abutment, spillway dam and building of the plant is being made.