Ekaterinburg, 8 April, 2009 - The Minister of Economic Development of Italy Claudio Scajola, Enel CEO and General Manager Fulvio Conti of Enel, Enel President Piero Gnudi, Deputy Minister of Energy of Russia Vyacheslav Sinyugin, Ambassador of Italy in Russia Vittorio Claudio Surdo, today visited the Sredneuralskaya GRES power plant to check the progress of the 410-CCGT construction.
The visit to the power plant closes a two day trip to Russia of Minister Claudio Scajola and the members of the Italian Confindustria Association.
On Monday, April 6, Fulvio Conti met with Igor Sechin, deputy Prime Minister and they discussed on the current market situation, the outlook and growth perspectives of the electricity and gas industry in Russia as well as projects on energy efficiency.
In visiting the power plant Fulvio Conti CEO and General Manager of Enel commented
Russia is a market of paramount importance for Enel along with Italy and Iberia. We are fully committed to contribute to the growth of the electricity market in this country and we believe the economic growth and liberalization process will continue despite the current economic crisis. This is the reason why we stay committed to our investment plan worth 2.1 billion euros. In Russia we have established the perfect model for an energy player which is the vertical integration of our business. Our activities in this country span from gas upstream, electricity generation to trading and sales. We are working to make our Russian power plants more efficient, competitive and environmental friendly.
The commissioning of this 410-CCGT will allow to increase technical, economic and environmental performance of the power plant, its efficiency and competitiveness on the wholesale energy market as well as to create the required reserve of generating capacities for the modernization of the existing equipment in Sredneuralskaya GRES.
In the Urals Enel runs 5000 MW of capacity of which 3800 coal-fueled and 1200 using gas.
General Director of JSC OGK-5 Anatoly Kopsov who was hosting the event informed all its guests about the progress of construction and planned commissioning date of the first combined cycle gas turbine unit in IV quarter 2010 at Sredneuralskaya GRES, with entry into service expected for 2011.