Inter RAO UES expects Japan to respond on electrical power supply project
ULAN-UDE. April 11 (Interfax) - Inter RAO UES has suggested that Japan build an electrical transmission line to Sakhalin in order to tap the power supply there, Inter RAO UES CEO Boris Kovalchuk said during a video linkup with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"One and a half years ago, we had plans to build a cable to supply electrical power to Japan," he said.
Coal-fired blocks were built in Sakhalin and an appropriate environmental evaluation was conducted for that purpose, Kovalchuk said.
"We have now signed a memorandum with our Japanese partners and we are expecting their response on their interest in this project," Kovalchuk said.
"The post-Fukushima events show that Japan has a shortage of electrical power," he said.
Inter RAO has no plans to invest its own money in the project, but would raise bank loans if the project materialized.
Inter RAO signed a memorandum in February with Japanese companies and financial institutions. The sides agreed to work to find an acceptable scheme for exporting electricity to Japan, including construction of new generating capacity and transmission or use of Russian capacity, for which they agreed to jointly prepare a preliminary feasibility study.
The study would define the main parameters of the project: the location, capacity, type of electric station, the export scheme, the structure that would realize the project and the financing sources.
Inter RAO noted that the Japanese government would also have to approve a resolution on imports of electricity.
Nonetheless, Sakhalin is currently suffering from an electricity shortage. The main generating capacity is the Sakhalin district power station (Sakhalin GRES) and South Sakhalin-1 Combined Heat and Power Plant, which are part of Sakhalinenergo , a company in the RAO ES Vostok group.
Japan has idled most of its nuclear power plants, which previously generated about one-third of the nation's electricity.
