RusHydro Commissions Third Hydropower Unit at Ust-Srednekanskaya Power Plant

Moscow, Russia. RusHydro announces commissioning of the third hydropower unit at Ust-Srednekanskaya hydropower plant, the country’s largest hydropower plant currently under construction located on the Kolyma River in the Magadan region of the Far Eastern Federal District. The plant’s installed capacity increased almost two fold – from 168 MW to 310.5 MW. Nikolay Shulginov, Chairman of the Management Board – General Director of RusHydro and Sergey Nosov, governor of Magadan took part in the opening ceremony.

Nikolay Shulginov commented: “Construction of Ust-Srednekanskaya HPP plays an important role for the Far East and is aimed at achieving one of the strategic goals outlined by the President of Russian Federation in his May decrees of providing consistent power supply to consumers in the Far East, which is also RusHydro’s priority task”. Additional electricity output of the HPP will enable operation of new production facilities in Magadan region.

Sergey Nosov mentioned that there is an unprecedented electricity demand in the region. In 2018 alone, electricity consumption in Magadan region increased by 13%. “Outpacing development of hydropower industry will ensure reliability of electricity supply in the isolated energy system of Magadan region. Among electricity production, the facility will provide navigation on the Kolyma River and lift operation restrictions of Kolymskaya HPP located higher up the river”, added Nosov.

Ust-Srednekanskaya power plant is located 217 kilometers downstream from the operating Kolymskaya power plant and is the second stage of the cascade. This unique hydropower facility is built in extreme natural conditions: permafrost in the region is 300 meters thick and outside winter temperatures goes down to 60 degrees centigrade below zero.

Lengidropoject developed the design of the power plant back in the 80ies. The site preparation began in 1991, but the work progressed very slowly due to insufficient financing. De-facto construction resumed only in 2008 when RusHydro took over the project.

The dam across Kolyma River was completed in 2011. The first phase of the plant was commissioned in 2013 including two hydropower units equipped with two temporary 84 MW runners, operating with a 32.5 meters high earth-filled dam. The second phase includes the third hydropower unit with the regular 142.5 MW runner designed for 48.5 meters dam.

The third phase of the project includes growth of the dam to 66 meters, replacement of temporary runners with regular more powerful ones and commissioning of the third hydropower unit. Completion of the third phase would allow the plant to reach project capacity of 570 MW and long-run annual output of 2.55 bn kWh. Overall length of the earth-filled dam and two concrete dams upon completion will reach 2 kilometers 490 meters. Commissioning of the fourth hydropower unit is scheduled for 2023.

All main equipment of the plant, such as turbines, generators and power transformers is manufactured in Russia.

The plant is being built by RusHydro’s controlled company – JSC Ust-SrednekanHESstroi.

About RusHydro
RusHydro Group is one of Russia’s largest generating companies. RusHydro is the leading producer of renewable energy in Russia with over 400 generating facilities in Russia and abroad. The company also manages a number of R&D, engineering and electricity retail companies. Group’s thermal assets are operated by subsidiary – RAO Energy System of East in the Far East of Russia. Total electricity generation capacity of the Group is 39.4 GW, heat capacity – 18.5 thousand GCal/h.