Russian govt mulls building new hydro plants in Far East
MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - The Russian president ordered the Cabinet and the governments of Amur Region and Khabarovsk Territory to consider building new hydropower plants following a meeting on floods and forest fires in the regions and the response efforts to them, the Kremlin website reported.
This refers to power plants on the Niman and Selemdzha rivers. The government is supposed to submit a report on this issue by October.
The governor of Khabarovsk Territory, Mikhail Degtyarev earlier called for the construction of the Niman HPP in order to provide electricity for the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM). He said the plant could generate up to 1.8 billion kWh per year. The cost of construction was estimated at 61.5 billion rubles.
RusHydro signed an agreement with China Three Gorges Corporation in 2014 on the joint implementation of hydro projects in Russia. The agreement called for feasibility assessments and subsequent construction of the Nizhne-Zeisk, Selemdzha, Gilyuiskaya and Nizhne-Niman hydro plants. However, RusHydro later dropped plans to build the plants.