Moscow, 22 September 2006. Today, an official ceremony was held to commission Power Unit 1 into operation and open the penstock valve at the Irganayskaya HPP located in the settlement of Shamilkala, Republic of Dagestan. This brings the first phase of the project to completion.

The ceremony was attended by Mukhu Aliyev, President of the Republic of Dagestan; Andrey Dementyev, Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation; Vladimir Pekhtin, State Duma Vice-Speaker; Vyacheslav Sinyugin, member of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" and Chairman of the Management Board of OAO "HydroWGC".

The Irganayskaya HPP is located on the Avarskoe Koisu River in the Untsukulsky district, Republic of Dagestan. The construction was started in 1981 but was suspended in the mid-1990s due to the lack of finance. The situation changed the project to complete the Irganayskaya HPP was included in the RAO UES Investment Programme.

The plant's first hydraulic unit was brought on line in 1998 and the second one in 2001. After the first phase of the construction project at the Irganayskaya TPP is completed, the plant's available capacity increased by 146 MW from 214 MW to 360 MW.

Simultaneously, the work is continued to fill the dam in order to bring the station to its design capacity of 400 MW. In 2006, the investments by OAO "HydroWGC" in the project the Irganayskaya HPP amount to RUB2.7 billion. After the station reaches its design capacity, it will reduce the energy shortages in the Republic of Dagestan, which, according to preliminary estimates, may reach up to one-fourth of the available capacity.

As part of the programme to expand use of Dagestan's hydraulic resources, OAO "HydroWGC" adopted resolutions to resume construction of the Gotsatlinskaya HPP. The plant's installed capacity will amount to 100 MW, with the average annual output of 325 million kWh. The construction at the power plant was carried out in 1991 to 1995, but later on the project was suspended. By end-2006, OAO "HydroWGC" will allocate over RUB240 million in funds to finance the project resumption.