OREANDA-NEWS. August 11, 2014. JSC Yantarenergo signed a cooperation agreement with JSC Baltic NPP.

The document covers the issues of interaction in development of the engineering infrastructure as relates to power supply systems and in creating conditions for attracting investors. The management of both companies believe that this will help to ensure reliable operation of the plant and quality of electricity.

Igor Makovsky, the CEO of JSC Yantarenergo, believes the project itself is called for to ensure energy security of the region.

“The Russian Grids, as a country’s core business, including Yantarenergo, has never put on doubt expediency of construction and presence of Baltic nuclear power plant or an alternative primary fuel-fired generation source in the territory of Kaliningrad Region,” Makovsky said. “You see, perhaps we will have to operate in isolation starting from 2017. So today we have already started allocating land to build a system of power release from small gas-fired plants and the coal-fired plant, which will ensure stable operation. This agreement will allow solving a number of practical issues. First of all, it is synchronization of our investment programs. We annually approve the program in the Ministry of Energy of Russia, but it couldn’t take account of the needs of the construction site. Today, it is 23 MW and 160 megawatt when the plant is on and running,” he said.

“At the present time, both ROSATOM and Rosenergoatom’s main efforts are focused on elaboration of solutions for power release scheme, which is worked on considering the changing situation in the power market of the Baltic region,” Yuri Shalimov, the CEO of JSC Baltic NPP, says. “The priority is to get oriented to European consumers and investors. There is a certain agreement with Polish consumers for 500 MW. There are arrangements and proposals from Lithuanian companies, which are ready to take up to 500 megawatts,” he adds.

Today in Russia only one company, Yantarenergo, is permitted to combine generation and operation of grids. “This will be the responsibility of a unified grid company irrespectively of a number of operators who produce electricity in the region. This is stipulated in the federal law. And Yantarenergo will be the center of responsibility and decision-making in the region,” Makovsky says.

To remind, Baltic NPP is the only Russia’s nuclear power plant where attraction of private investors is planned. Speaking about a profit from the plant operation, Kaliningrad Region Governor Nikolay Tsukanov earlier said that the plant would pay to the municipal budget only an amount of RUB 1 up to 2 billion.