Moscow, 16 December 2005. Today, an official ceremony was held to bring on line power unit 6 at the Novocherkasskaya TPP, which is part of OAO "WGC-6". The ceremony was attended by Alexander Chikunov, member of the Management Board and Managing Director of Business Unit No. 1, RAO "UES of Russia"; Valentin Sanko, Director General of OAO "WGC-6", and Sergey Nazarov, Minister of Industry, Energy and Natural Resources of the Rostov Region.

As part of the overhaul and modernization program, the 310 MW steam turbine and the feed pump of the power unit were replaced. Also, the boiler and auxiliary equipment in the turbine building were repaired. The economic life of the new turbine is 170,000 hours, with the expected service life ranging between 230,000 and 250,000 hours. When the new equipment is put into operation it will help reduce the specific fuel consumption by 14%.

The power unit repair and modernization costs totalled RUB755.8 million, including RUB535.8 million in own resources and a RUB220 million loan from Sberbank of Russia. The project payback period is estimated to be 4 years.

The new turbine is equipped with electro hydraulic regulation system manufactured by SSS, a US corporation. The system will make it possible to automatically launch the turbine and regulate the current frequency according to the European standards. Also, the power unit features an automated generation control system developed by "ORGRES Firm", Russia. The unit's boiler burns coal or natural gas, and has no restrictions on pipeline pressure.

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Power unit 6 at the Novocherkasskaya TPP was brought on line on 30 November 1970. In the fourth quarter of 2001 it was decommissioned because of unsatisfactory state of the turbine, which had exhausted its useful life. The overhaul of the power unit was started in June 2004.