The Russian power company signed the syndicated loan along with aluminium producer Rusal as the hydro plant will produce much of its power for the firm's industrial production needs. Part of the loan will also be used to complete the aluminium plant at Boguchansky
In a joint statement the companies said that the syndicate loan has been agreed with ABN Amro, Barclays, Calyon and Sberbank Russia. The average rate on the loan facility is 0.825% over LIBOR per year.
The Boguchanskaya project is around two-thirds complete and is scheduled to be commissioned starting 2009. This year, construction work should see the placement of about 300,000m3 of concrete and the tender process begin for turbine-generator units.
Boguchanskaya project is the biggest hydro power scheme in Russia, construction of which began in 1980. Work proceeded until 1994 when funding dried up and therefore construction came to a halt. Construction resumed after 2002 thanks to Russian industrial conglomerate RAO UES.
Activity was further invigorated when Rusal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with RAO UES subsidiary Hydro OGK, in 2005, which would see the aluminium producer take much of the plant's power output. In mid-2006 the companies formed the BEMO association that binds the power and aluminium plants even further.
Hydro OGK was established in September 2003, pulling together a number of operational hydro plants and projects. It is to be spun off its parent in the near future.
