St. Petersburg. 20 December 2007. An official ceremony has been held to commission the new 330 kV Rzhevskaya substation with overhead cable transmission lines. The ceremony was attended by St.-Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, RAO UES Management Board Chairman Anatoly Chubais, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of OAO "UES FGC" Alexander Chistyakov, and Valery Chistyakov, Director General of the North-West Transmission Grids Branch of OAO "UES FGC" branch.

The 330 kV Rzhevskaya Substation and overhead transmission lines were built under the Agreement on Interaction between the Saint Petersburg Government and RAO "UES of Russia" in ensuring reliable electricity supply signed in July 2006. The total amount of funds invested in the new substation project made RUB3.1 billion. North West Transmission Grids Branch acted as the customer and OAO "Sevzapeletrosetstroy" as the general contractor for the construction.

The new substation is the first power grid facility of this voltage class to be built in Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region over the past twenty years. It will help relieve the load on the 330 kV Vostochnaya Substation, the key facility in the Leningrad energy system, which has experienced overload for the past few years. This will help improve the reliability of power supply in the North-East of Saint Petersburg.

The most advanced technological solutions and equipment were used to construct the Rzhevskaya substation. The substation has two 330 kV autotransformers with 200-MVA capacity and two 110 kV transformers with 40-MVA capacity. The facility also features compact outdoor 110-kV switchgear (OSG), the first one of the kind to have been installed in the Leningrad Energy System. The new switchgear occupies half the usual area for such kind of installations.

In order to link the substation to the Leningrad Energy System, 4 km of 330 kV cable lines were built. between the Rzhevskaya Substation, the Kirishskaya TPP and the Vostochnaya Substation. Compared to overhead transmission lines, cable lines are more reliable, convenient and have a higher transfer capability. Moreover, cable lines are fully protected from adverse atmospheric effects, such as voltage spikes caused by lightings, wind load, glaze, and, importantly, are not accessible by unauthorized persons.

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During the visit to the Rzhevskaya Substation, the representatives of the Saint Petersburg Government and RAO "UES of Russia" held a working meeting to discuss the progress made in implementing the investment projects designed to ensure reliable power supply in the city.

After the meeting, they signed a supplementary agreement amending the programme of priority actions to be undertaken to develop the Leningrad Energy System. This is due to the increased obligations of RAO UES companies to build new generation capacity and modernize the existing power plants and power grid facilities.

As concerns the generation sector, the total amount of new capacity to be brought on line in the Leningrad Energy System by 2012 will make 3,387 MW, up 350 MW compared to the previous target. Under the amended programme, 7,440 MVA (up from 5,450 MVA) of new trunk grid facilities and 6,214 MVA (up from 5,842 MVA) of distribution grid facilities are to be brought on line in the region. The total amount of investments to be spent on expansion projects in the Leningrad Energy System by 2012 will increase to RUB262.2 billion from RUB229.8 billion.

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