Today, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and Russian Minister of Energy Aleksandr Novak took part in a ceremony dedicated to the launch of the Zainsk GRES (district power plant) upgrade. A new 850-MW CCGT unit will be built near the Plant, which will significantly increase the efficiency of the GRES.
Rustam Minnikhanov thanked the country’s leaders for supporting the project to upgrade the power plant. “This is a very important project not only for the energy sector of the republic, but also for the energy system of our entire country”, the Tatarstan President stressed.
He said that the retrofitting of the Zainsk GRES will give a significant economic effect. The project will reduce the cost of electricity for consumers in the first price zone of the wholesale market by RUB 7 billion per year through increasing the supply of cheap energy to the market.
Minister Novak noted that Zainsk GRES is a backbone power plant for the united energy system of the Middle Volga region. He stressed that over the past 5 years, the average consumption of electricity in Tatarstan has been growing by 2.5% annually, which is higher than the national average (1%).
The contract for the design, procurement and construction of the 850-MW CCGT unit was signed between Tatenergo and the Turkey-headquartered Enka in July this year. The retrofitting is planned to be completed in 2025.