Moscow, 13 March. RAO "UES of Russia" is launching a project to upgrade the first boiler unit at Beryozovskaya CPP-1. The upgrade program, which has been developed jointly with Clyde Bergemann Germany, envisages installation of an on-load cleaning system for P-67 boiler.

The project will be financed with own sources of OAO Beryozovskaya CPP-1 and a loan from the Savings Bank of Russia. The project payback period is estimated to be 4 years. According to RAO "UES of Russia", the upgrade of Beryozovskaya CPP-1 is the first project to be financed on a long-term basis without a guarantee from RAO "UES of Russia".

Beryozovskaya CPP has 2 power generating units of 800 MW nameplate capacity. However, a design error made by the manufacturer resulted in slagging of furnace walls, fouling and scaling of part of the convective superheaters, which caused forced outages to clean the boilers. As a result, the maximum continuos rating of the generators did not exceed 700 MW.

The upgrade will help increase the boiler coefficient of efficiency (COP) at least by 1%, reduce fuel consumption and cut outage time required for boiler clearing, which increase the boiler operation time by 180 hr/year. Upon completion of the project in 2004, the electrical capacity of power-generating unit No.1 will increase to the original 800 MW.