Medvedev to discuss energy supplies in Siberia

ABAKAN, March 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
chair a meeting of the consultative State Council in the Siberian republic
of Khakassia on Friday and is expected to visit the Sayano-Shushenskaya
hydropower plant which is recovering from a major accident in 2009 when
water flooded the turbine room killing 75 people and bringing the biggest
energy facility to a standstill.
Medvedev is also expected to visit Sayanogorsk aluminum smelter
located 50 kilometers away from the hydropower plant, which is the main
consumer of electricity. The smelter owned by RUSAL of business tycoon
Oleg Deripaska reported on the eve of Medvedev's visit it had produced 537
thousand tons of primary aluminum in 2010, six thousand tons above
projected capacity.
The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant also hurried to report
ongoing recovery. Its owner RusHydro said four of the ten flooded turbines
had been re-launched and six new turbines will be installed by 2013. After
that the four operating turbines will be upgraded. The plant said
"absolutely new and modern equipment will be installed with better
operating characteristics that meet all the reliability and safety
requirements."
However electricity prices upped nearly three-fold in Khakassia this
year which may deal a heavy blow to the republican economy.
Deputy chairperson of the republican energy tariff committee Yelena
Loban blamed the federal government for the increase. "Such changes were
initiated by federal authorities. In 2011 enterprises are buying
electricity at free prices. Such a novelty is fraught with the gravest
consequences for most entrepreneurs and the republican economy in
general," she told Tass.
The electricity grid and power transmission lines in Khakassia also
leave much to be desired. Director of MRSK Siberia electricity
distribution company Oleg Shpilevsky said the wear-and-tear of equipment
exceeded 70 percent.
He said MRSK Russia mother company pans to invest 15 billion rubles by
2020 to modernize the grid. "The funds will help decrease the
wear-and-tear by 25 percent," he explained.
RUSAL, which is the main electricity consumer in the republic,
promised to invest 520 million rubles into power engineering, according to
Khakassia deputy governor Andrei Novoselov.
Electricity subsidies worth 30 million rubles are envisaged for
agricultural producers to compensate for 35 percent of electricity bills.