Russian metals group MMC Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) has completed the recommissioning of the Ust-Khantayskaya hydropower plant in northern Siberia, following a total modernization. An inauguration ceremony was held on 18 October to mark the return to full operation of Russia's most northerly hydropower plant. Nikolay Shulginov, Russian Minister of Energy, and Alexander Uss, Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, attended the recommissioning ceremony by video conference. "With the upgrade comes higher capacity and performance efficiency for the station, as well as better reliability of the plant and the region's power grid," said Shulginov, who launched the restart of the final unit. "The replacement of units at Ust-Khantayskaya will make a strong contribution to providing settlements in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the company's major assets with reliable and environmentally friendly power," said Evgeny Fyodorov, Nornickel's Vice President for Energy. Nornickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, and a major producer of platinum and copper, replaced all seven adjustable blade turbines with new radial-axis Francis turbines at the storage plant in Taymyr Peninsula over a seven-year period, as part of an Rb 7.5 billion (US$ 105 million) modernization project. The upgrading of the station, undertaken as part of Nornickel's wider investment programme to revamp energy infrastructure and produce carbon-neutral metals, increased the capacity of each unit from 63 to 73 MW and its combined installed capacity to 511 from 441 MW. It also increased the maximum efficiency factor of each turbine from 88 to 95 per cent, increased its average annual output to 2.4 TWh, and extended the plant's service life by around 40 years. In addition, the plant's upgrade will reduce CO_2 emissions by 174 000 t/year with increased output offsetting production by local coal-fired thermal plants.
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