Moscow, 24 August 2005. Today, Sergey Dubinin, member of the Management Board and Financial Director of RAO "UES of Russia", will hold a meeting of the Operational Headquarters for the construction of GTU-CHPP "Luch" in Belgorod. The meeting will be attended by representatives of the Belgorod Region Government; Valery Korobov, Chairman of the Operational Launch Headquarters of RAO "UES of Russia"; Evgeny Makarov, Director General of OAO "IDC-1" and OAO "Heat Energy Company" (Belgorod), and the CEOs of contractor firms.

The attendees will consider the progress made in the power plant construction and the adherence to the construction and installation schedule. By now, the installation of gas-turbine unit No. 1 and waste-heat recovery boilers has been completed at GTU-CHPP "Luch". Work is underway to install gas-turbine unit No. 2. Besides, the installation teams have finished the installation of equipment at the 100 kV outdoor switchgear, booster compression station, and gas treatment station. Work is in process to install the electrical equipment for the plant's own needs.

GTU-CHPP "Luch" is based on combined-cycle generation of electricity and heat. The power plant's two power units are equipped with LM2500 + DLE gas turbines produced by General Electric. When put into operation, the CHPP will have an installed capacity of 60 MW of electricity and 60 Gcal of heat.

The power plant is scheduled for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2005.

The GTU-CHPP "Luch" project is part of the process to implement the Agreement on Cooperation between the Belgorod Region Administration and OAO RAO "UES of Russia" in Reforming and Developing the Energy Sector of the Belgorod Region signed in August 2003. This is the first power plant of RAO "UES of Russia" being built according to the project finance principles and financed with funds borrowed from OAO "Bank for Foreign Trade" (Vneshtorgbank) and OAO "Savings Bank of Russia" (Sberbank of Russia), rather than the funds of RAO "UES of Russia" earmarked for investment.