Moscow, 18 December 2006. Today, the Consultative Council for Electricity Sector Issues held its first meeting in RAO UES head office. The Council was created by RAO "UES of Russia" jointly with the all-Russia business associations, Delovaya Rossiya ("Business Russia") and Opora Rossii.

During the meeting, the Council explored the feasibility of using the standard technological solutions proposed by Russian power engineering companies for building power units within the framework of the investment programmes pursued of RAO "UES of Russia", WGCs, and TGCs. These solutions are designed to cut costs and speed up the construction of new generation capacity.

Yevgeny Tugolukov, member of the General Council of Delovaya Rossiya Association, Ivan Shevchenko, Corporate Director of OAO "EMAliance", Yuri Petrenya, Deputy Director General for Technical Policy, OAO "Power Machines", and Sergey Inkov, Chairman of the Management Board of OAO "UES Engineering Center" presented a report on the work done by their companies to design standard steam power units burning solid fuel, including those operating under ultra-supercritical steam conditions, and combined-cycle plants.

The Council recommended to launch the discussion of this issue at the meetings of the Science and Technology Council of RAO "UES of Russia" and the Investments Commission of the RAO UES Board. Their respective decisions are to be approved by the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia".

The Council also considered the issue of technological connections to power grids. Victor Pryadein, Director for Development and Customer Relationship, OAO "UES FGC", made a report on the progress made in improving the regulatory framework addressing the issue. The report was co-presented by Alexey Kozhevnikov, Vice-President of the Opora Rossii Association.

It was resolved to create a Working Group which will develop common approaches to be taken the business community and electricity industry participants to the development of power grids. The Council will return to the matter at its meeting scheduled for March 2007.

The next Council meeting will be held in February 2007 and will consider the prospects for cooperation between the generation companies and small-scale standalone power systems. A report on the subject will be made by Delovaya Rossiya representatives.