Ekibastuz GRES-2 installs second transmission line worth 973.5 ml tenge
PAVLODAR. Dec 22 (Interfax) - The Ekibastuz GRES-2 JSC power station in Kazakhstan's Pavlodar region has completed a project to expand its 500 kilovolt open switchgear unit adding a second power transmission line, the Pavlodar regional Department for Industry and Entrepreneurship told Interfax-Kazakhstan.
According to the department, the project has cost 973.5 million tenge (current exchange rate is 147.83 tenge /$1).
"Before the upgrade the Ekibastuz GRES-2 was connected to the national power grid of Kazakhstan via only one transmission line, which is a violation of process norms. Now we have added a second 500 kV line to ensure uninterrupted power supply," the department said.
The Industry and Entrepreneurship Department reminded that after the commissioning of the station's third power unit due in 2014, the station's output would increase from the current 1,000 to 1,600 MW.
The Ekibastuz GRES-2, which uses Ekibastuz basin coal, has a generating capacity of 1,000 MW provided by two 500-MW generating units. It is owned on a parity basis by Inter RAO UES of Russia and the Kazakh Samruk-Kazyna state fund.