Moscow. 16 November 2005. President of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic Vyacheslav Shtyrov and Chairman of RAO UES Management Board Anatoly Chubais are in the process of discussing the possibility of creating a hydropower complex in South Yakutia.

A study conducted by experts of RAO "UES of Russia" in Yakutia suggests that the Aldan River—the right tributary of the Lena River—has a significant hydropower potential. The South Yakutia hydropower complex is expected to include two hydropower plants on the Uchur River (the Sredne-Uchurskaya HPP and Uchurskaya HPP) and two HPPs on the Timpton River (the Idzhekskaya HPP and Nizhne-Timptonskaya HPP). When these power plants are built and brought on line, they will produce 23.5 billion kWh of electricity annually. For the sake of comparison, the current electricity output in the Integrated Energy System of the East of Russia is about 30 billion kWh a year; the Bureyskaya HPP, when it reaches its design capacity in 2007, will generate 7.2 billion kWh yearly.

Implementation of the project to build the power plants using renewable sources of energy in Yakutia will reduce the consumption of fossil fuel: by 10 million tonnes of coal and 6 billion m³ of natural gas.

The creation of the South Yakutia hydropower complex will help improve the reliability of the Far Eastern energy system and make it possible, in the future, to export electricity to the countries of Asia and Pacific region.

On the proposal of the Sakha (Yakutia) Government, RAO "UES of Russia" has started the process to form a working group to develop a project for the South-Yakutia hydropower complex. OAO "HydroWGC" has been given the task of making preparations for the feasibility study for the project.