Moscow, 22 December 2005. A ceremony was held in the Mytishchinsky District, Moscow Region, to kick off the construction of power unit No. 3 at CHPP-27 of OAO "Mosenergo".* The ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais; Deputy Chairman of the State Duma's Energy, Transport, and Communications Committee Yury Lipatov; officials from the Moscow Region Government, and Director General of OAO "Mosenergo" Anatoly Kopsov.

The construction of power unit 3 at CHPP-27 with a capacity of 450 MW is envisaged by the Programme of Development and Technical Re-equipment in the Moscow Energy System for 2006-2020. Under the Programme, it is planned to build new and modernize the existing power facilities by 2010 in Moscow and Moscow Region, which will result in an additional 2,100 MW of capacity. This will help meet the growing demand for electricity in the area and provide reliable and uninterrupted supplies of power for consumers.

Power unit 3 of CHPP-27 will have the biggest capacity in Moscow. The electricity generated by the unit will be supplied to about 400,000 flats. The new unit employs advanced combined-cycle gas technology which has an efficiency of 51.5%, as compared to steam power units whose efficiency does not exceed 40%. Apart from that, the use of combined-cycle gas technology will help save up to 20-25% of fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a third compared to conventional steam power generators.

It is expected that the project to build the new unit at CHPP-27 will be financed with the profit of OAO "Mosenergo", depreciation charges, and borrowed funds. Investments for the project are estimated to total RUB9.6 billion.

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* CHPP-27 of OAO "Mosenergo" is one of the most modern and environment friendly power plants in Russia as well as in Europe. The plant was put into operation on 25 December 1992 and has an installed capacity of 160 MW.