On 11 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin presided over a videoconference on power supply to the Crimean Peninsula, in connection with the conclusion of construction of the energy link through the Kerch Strait. The meeting was also attended by RF Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, General Director of PJSC Rosseti Oleg Budargin, representatives of Rosseti Group subsidiaries, and the heads of the contracting agencies engaged in the engineering and construction of the energy bridge.

As the head of state remarked, the energy link running along the bottom of the Kerch Strait is an incredibly-complex technical project, one in which the most cutting-edge technologies have been used and the work itself has progressed at a blistering pace. “As a result, within a very tight timeframe we have managed to break through the energy blockade of Crimea... At the same time, we still face the challenge of completing a vast amount of work in terms of modernizing the peninsula’s energy utilities, creating modern new generating capacity, and updating its entire power system. I would like to thank the engineers, the workers – all those who have taken part in building this facility, for their selfless work, diligence and outstanding commitment to the task at hand,” stressed Vladimir Putin.  

The Russian President also noted that, including its own generation, the Crimean Peninsula now boasts a power capacity of 1270 MW, while the summer’s anticipated peak consumption level stands at 1100-1150 (MW). That said, by adding the reserve capacity that remains on the peninsula, 1800 MW could be provided if the need were to arise.

Project implementation entailed the construction of an entire array of power facilities. Two modern new substations were built: the 500-kilovolt “Taman” substation and the new, 200-kilovolt “Kafa” substation. Five existing substations were reconstructed and modernized: the Kubanskaya, Vyshesteblievskaya, Slavyanskaya, Simferopolskaya and Kamysh-Burunskaya.

The total length of (220-500 kV voltage rating) power-transmission lines built under the project amounts to more than 800 kilometers. Four 220 kV lines were laid along the bottom of Kerch Strait, consisting of four 14.5 km-long threads each. Thus, the total lenth of the project’s underwater cables spans more than 230 kilometers.

 For reference:

Launch of the first line of the energy bridge from Krasnodar Krai to Crimea took place on 2 December 2015.

The second was commissioned on 15 December.

On 14 April 2016, the power sector launched the third line, making it possible to eliminate the power shortage on the peninsula.

The fourth line supports total power flow of up to 800 MW from Russia’s integrated power system, which will fully cover Crimea’s energy needs during the peak load season.