Today in Saint Petersburg Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Valentina Matvienko, Governor of Saint Petersburg took part in the inauguration of a new turbine unit with the capacity of 50 MW (100 Gcal/hr) at the Vasileostrovskaya Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHPP).

The new equipment will substantially improve the CHPP efficiency and the overall reliability of Saint Petersburg’s energy supply system. The Vasileostrovskaya CHPP is the key source of heat and power energy for the Vasilievsky Island detached from other districts of the city and inhabited by some 200 thousand people.

As Alexey Miller stated after the event: “At present, Gazprom Group is implementing a consecutive large-scale program for the construction of new energy capacities and reconstruction of the existing ones, applying state-of-the-art technologies. Nowadays, Gazprom makes the most efficient investments into Russia’s power generation and is determined to develop this business. TGC-1 alone is going to commission over 1,600 MW of new capacities until 2013.”

The new turbine unit of the Vasileostrovskaya CHPP is the fourth new unit brought onstream by TGC-1 in 2009. Efficient operation of the CHPP provides sustainable energy supplies to dozens of the city’s large industrial enterprises, for instance, the Baltic Plant, the Sea Port and the Sevkabel Plant. The new unit is capable of supplying five thousand new apartments with electric power and over a million square meters of residential space with heat.

According to Valentina Matvienko: “Once Gazprom arrived in Saint Petersburg as a strategic partner, the city became warmer, lighter and more comfortable. The capacity ramp-up at the Vasileostrovskaya CHPP will make it possible to implement new energy-intensive projects in Saint Petersburg.”

Background:

TGC-1 is a unique generating company that produces 50 per cent of its electric power at hydro power plants (HPP). Being the leading heat and electric power producer and supplier to Russia’s Northwestern region and the country’s third largest generating company in terms of installed capacity, TGC-1 embraces 55 power plants, of which 19 plants are located beyond the Polar Circle. In addition, due to its advantageous geographic position TGC-1 independently exports electric power to Finland and Norway.

Gazprom Group is a strategic shareholder of TGC-1.

In its investment activities TGC-1 gives priority to decommissioning the obsolete equipment and its replacement with new capacities.

In January 2009 a new hydroelectric unit was brought onstream at the Volkhovskaya HPP in the Leningrad Oblast, in May – at the Svetogorskaya HPP. In June 2009 a new turbine unit was commissioned at the Vyborgskaya CHPP in Saint Petersburg.

Before the year end TGC-1 is going to commission another new hydroelectric unit at the Lesogorskaya HPP; and a new power unit, actually, a new plant will be put onstream at the Pervomayskaya CHPP in winter.

The Vasileostrovskaya CHPP is one of nine thermal power plants owned by TGC-1 in Saint Petersburg. It was put onstream on October 1, 1932. The previous reconstruction of the plant occurred in the late 1970s. In addition, preventive maintenance activities and, if necessary, capital overhauls are conducted on an annual basis. Thus, in 2009 boiler unit No.6 was heavily maintained. At present, peak hot-water boiler No.3 is undergoing an overhaul.

Once the new equipment with the capacity of 50 MW is commissioned, the Vasileostrovskaya CHPP will increase its aggregate capacity up to 135 MW. The heating power will amount to 1,184 Gcal/hr. The project was implemented using primarily domestic products: the boiler unit with 160 tons per hour in steaming capacity was manufactured at the Barnaul Boiler Plant, the turbine – at the Ural Turbine Works, the generator – at the Electrosila Plant, a member of the Power Machines Company. The new equipment is supplied with modern automated process control systems that substantially improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of the plant. For instance, it takes half as much time to perform start-up operations at the new turbine as compared to the identical units of the previous generation.

Moreover, a great scope of work has been done to update the scheme of power distribution. Previously, the electric power generated by the Vasileostrovskaya CHPP was supplied to the power network via 35-kV power lines only. These were upgraded with 110-kV power lines. Thus, the Vasileostrovskaya CHPP can provide power via two independent systems of different voltage categories.

Most of the solutions applied to the new power unit construction will considerably improve the environmental situation.