The development brings the plant’s installed capacity to 1,340 MW.
The project to build the Bureyskaya plant was started back in the early 1980s, but was suspended in the 1990s due to insufficient funds. In 2000, Anatoly Chubais, chairman of UES, issued an order to include the construction project in the company’s investment programme as a top priority projects.
The first two power units of the plant with the aggregate capacity of 370 MW became operational in 2003. The third 300 MW hydropower unit came on line in 2004, and the fourth, with 335 MW, in 2005. The sixth unit is scheduled to be put into operation in Q4 2007. The project is expected to be completed in 2008, with the capacity will reach 2,000 MW.
The investments in Bureyskaya have totalled in excess of RUB9.6 billion ($376 million). In 2006, the project management was transferred from UES to HydroWGC as part of the country’s reform programme.