The tenth hydropower unit has been commissioned at RusHydro's Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, marking completion of the extensive refurbishment carried out following a fatal incident at the plant in August 2009.
The launch of unit No.2, the most extensively damaged during the accident, means the plant has now reached its full project capacity of 6400MW. The RUB 41 billion project, which was RUB 2 billion less than planned and fully funded by RusHydro, involved replacing all ten units at the plant with new.
The reconstruction was necessary following the incident on 17 August 2009 when hydro turbine No. 2 broke apart violently. The turbine room and power equipment were flooded, the ceiling of the turbine room collapsed, all ten hydropower units of the plant were destroyed, and 75 people were killed.
The project to rebuild the plant was completed in three stages. The first, in 2010, involved restoring the four least damaged turbines and placing them back in operation. Over 2011-2013, five newly manufactured hydropower units were launched in the second stage.
In the third and final stage, carried out over 2013-2014, the four previously restored hydropower units were replaced with the new ones, and hydropower unit No.2 was commissioned. Power Machines manufactured and installed all the units.
The plant is also now equipped with new circuit breakers, 16 power transformers and the newest up-to-date 500 kV indoor switchgear.
