Moscow, 26 February 2008. Chairman of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais and Tomsk Region Governor Viktor Kress have signed a Cooperation Agreement designed to develop the Tomsk Region's energy system and ensure reliable power supply to customers. The Agreement will remain in effect until 2013.

In the next few years, a number of large-scale upstream and downstream projects will be implemented in the region. These include the oil production expansion at the new wells of OOO "Tomskneft-energo", development of the Bokchar iron-ore deposit, creation of a special economic zone in Tomsk as part of the project to develop nanotechnology, and construction of cement plants and pulp mills. These power-intensive projects will create demand for additional power generation and transmission expansion.

According to forecasts, electricity consumption will grow 1.53-1.8-fold by 2015 to 13.3 billion kWh (minimum growth scenario) or 15.6 billion kWh (maximum growth scenario for the region's development) from 8.6 billion kWh in 2007.

To meet the energy needs and ensure reliable electricity supply to customers, it is planned to increase the installed capacity of the Tomsk Region's power plants by 1,184 MW of electricity and 226 Gcal/h heat. To meet these targets, the following facilities will be built: Bakcharskaya TPP (660 MW), two power units at the Tomskaya CHPP-3 (aggregate capacity of 450 MW), and a 50 MW turbine unit at the Tomskaya TPP-2.

The Agreement provides for the construction and modernization of the region's power grid infrastructure. In the region's bulk transmission grids sector, it is planned that 1,477 km of transmission lines will be put into operation. As a result of the new construction and modernization of high-voltage substations their capacity will grow by 3,948 MW. The list of major projects to be implemented includes transmission lines of the 500 kV "Tomskaya-Bakcharskaya Substation" (225 km long), 370 km of high-voltage lines "Tomskaya Substation-Parabel Substation", 225 km of high-voltage lines "Parabel Substation-Bakcharskaya Substation", 220 kV high-voltage lines "Tomskaya Substation-Asino Substation", and "Tomskaya CHPP-3-Melnikovo Substation".

In the region's distribution system, there are plans to bring on line 157 km of transmission lines and 648 MVA of transformer capacity.

Under the Agreement, the total amount of funds to be spent on the projects in the Tomsk Region will be in excess of RUB103 billion, of which RUB67 billion and RUB36 billion will be invested in the power generation sector and grid infrastructure, respectively.