Rushydro to increase electric power exports from Far East to China

MOSCOW, July 13 (Itar-Tass) - Russian hydro-electric company Rushydro
said on Monday it plans to considerably increase electric power exports to
China from its Far Eastern hydropower plants within years.
In several years "Rushydro may export up to 3-4 billion kW/h," the
company's acting CEO, Vasily Zubakin, told Itar-Tass on Monday.
"As of March 1, Rushydro together with Inter RAO UES and RAO ES Vostok
exports approximately 150 MW," he said.
He stressed that the company has two Bureiskaya and Zeiskaya
hydropower plants in the Far East that produce over 3,000MW.
"Amid the conditions of not so high domestic demand in the Far East
export is an opportunity for our further development in the region," he
said adding that the Far East's energy potential is used only by 4 percent.
Revenues from hydropower exports will be injected into the network
construction, including the construction of power distribution schemes at
the Nizhne-Bureiskaya and Nizhne-Zeiskaya hydropower plants.
Thus, "the company's investment opportunities will grow and Rushydro
will be able to build the Nizhne-Bureiskaya plant," Zubakin said.
Several years ago the Unified Energy System of Russia energy holding
signed an agreement with China on increasing electric power exports to 60
billion kW/h in the long-term. Under the document Nizhne-Bureiskaya and
Nizhne-Zeiskaya plants as well as the Yuzhno-Yakutsky hydropower complex
and coal-based thermal power plants should be built.
Earlier, Vice-Premier Igor Sechin told reporters that this summer
Russia and China plan to sign an intergovernmental agreement to boost
relations in electric power, including bigger exports from the Far East to
China.

-0-isk/gor