Moscow, 16 August 2005. Today, the Chairman of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais held a regular meeting of the Construction Headquarters at the Kaliningradskaya CHPP-2. The meeting was attended by Sergey Dubinin, member of the Management Board and Financial Director of RAO "UES of Russia"; Vyacheslav Voronin, member of the Management Board and Managing Director of Services Business Unit of RAO "UES of Russia"; Boris Ayuyev, member of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia", Chairman of the Management Board of OAO "UES SO-CDA".

The meeting noted that, in connection with the completion of construction of the first combined-cycle power unit (450 MW) at the Kaliningradskaya CHPP-2, a Central Acceptance Commission was formed at RAO "UES of Russia" in early August to put the power unit into pilot production.

The first power unit is scheduled for launch into pilot production on 1 November 2005. When the project is completed, the Kaliningradskaya CHPP-2 will have a total capacity of 900 MW (two power units of 450 MW each).

The power plant will use the state-of-the-art combined-cycle technology with the efficiency of 51% (conventional steam power plants have an efficiency coefficient of not more than 40%), which will help save up to 20-25% of fuel. The combined-cycle gas technology was introduced in Russia a few years ago. Today, it is used at the Severo-Zapadnaya CHPP ("North-West CHPP"), Sochinskaya CHPP and Tymenskaya CHPP-1, and will be implemented at the Ivanovskie PGU, a power plant currently under construction.

The first power unit of the Kaliningradskaya CHPP-2 can supply up to 340 Gcal of heat. However, to deliver the heat, it is necessary to build heating mains linking the power plant to the city of Kaliningrad. It should be noted that, when the power plant switches to the heat-extraction mode, the fuel efficiency at the Kaliningradskaya CHPP-2 will rise to 76%. Accordingly, the plant's efficiency will go up, too.

The construction is financed mostly with earmarked funds of RAO "UES of Russia" and loans from Sberbank of Russia. In 2005, RUB5.26 billion in funds will be allocated for the power plant construction (including RUB3 billion in earmarked funds provided by RAO "UES of Russia" and RUB2.26 billion in borrowings). This year, the federal government has allocated RUB150 million for the project.

The Kaliningradskaya CHPP-2 is being built in the energy system of OAO "Yantarenergo", which experiences energy shortages. The power plant will help ensure power independence of the Kaliningrad Region, strengthen the common economic space of Russia and enhance energy security of the area, taking into account its high economic growth and anticipated increase in energy consumption.