| Moscow, 23 May 2006. Today, an official ceremony was held to lay the foundation stone for the construction of Power Unit 3 at the Kashirskaya TPP, Moscow Region. The ceremony was attended by member of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Vladimir Avetisyan; Chairman of the Electricity Committee of the Moscow Region Government Vladimir Melnikov; and Director General of OAO "WGC-1" Vladimir Khlebnikov.
The decision to build Power Unit 3 at the Kashirskaya TPP was taken in December 2005. Today, the first cubic meter of concrete has been laid in the foundation of the new power unit. The Kashirskaya TPP is the largest power plant in the Moscow Region, accounting for about 10% of the total generating capacity in the Moscow energy system. When the new 330 MW power unit is brought on line, the plant's installed capacity will reach 1,910 MW of electricity and 444 Gcal/h of heat.
The capacity expansion project will help address the issue of energy shortages in the Moscow energy system and considerably increase the reliability of power to customers in the city of Moscow and the Moscow Region.
The project cost is estimated at RUB5.8 billion. The project will be financed with a combination of available cash resources of OAO "WGC-1" (the power plant is part of WGC-1) and borrowed funds (these will make less than 50%).
The environmental feature of the project is the use of a two-stage coal combustion process. The modern electrofilters installed in the power unit will improve its dust collection rate to 99.99%.
The project is scheduled to be completed in H1 2008.
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The Kashirskaya TPP is located 110 km away from Moscow. It was one of the first GOELRO Plan projects and was brought on line back in 1922. Today, the power plant generates electricity and heat supplied to the Moscow Region and a considerable part of Moscow. In 2005, the plant generated over 6,000 million kWh of electricity.
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