Events

MINSK, 21 December (BelTA) – The project to allow transmitting power from the Belarusian nuclear power plant to the national power grid will be implemented by the end of 2018, BelTA learned from Yevgeny Voronov, Director General of the national electrical company Belenergo, on 21 December.

The official said: “We are ahead of the regulatory time limit by virtually one year. By the end of this year we will commission 17 out of 23 startup facilities. Next year we will have to commission another six facilities. We will finish this work by the end of next year. Thus, we will implement the important project to enable power delivery [into the national power grid] one year before the nuclear power plant goes online.”

The project provides for building new 330kV overhead power lines as long as 1,032.5km and reconstructing 672.4km of existing 110-330kV power lines. Four power substations have to be reconstructed and the new substation Postavy needs to be built.

The country’s two most powerful hydropower plants have been commissioned this year — the Polotsk hydropower plant (21.7MW) and the Vitebsk hydropower plant (40MW). “This cascade of power plants on the Zapadnaya Dvina River will become the most powerful one in the country and will act as a platform for future development of hydropower engineering. We also hope it will help develop water-storage power industry in Belarus for the sake of smooth power delivery at any time and reducing emissions into the atmosphere,” said the Belenergo director general.

Apart from that, the full-scale reconstruction of one of Belarus’ oldest power plants — Gomel cogeneration plant No.1 — was finished in 2017. All the necessary repairs were done. The heating networks have been reconstructed for the sake of supplying the country with electricity in a reliable manner.

Yevgeny Voronov congratulated colleagues on the professional holiday — Energy Worker’s Day — which is celebrated in Belarus on 22 December. In 2016 Belenergo reached record high technical and economic parameters in the entire history of the Belarusian power grid. “This year has been a success, too, including technical and economic parameters and the reliability of power supply. In the Doing Business ranking we are rated rather high — the 25^th position in connecting to the power grid. We hope that the additional measures taken to improve business terms will produce results and our position will get better next year,” concluded the Belenergo director general.