Moscow, 12 December 2006. An official ceremony was held today in Dmitrovsky district, Moscow Region, to commission the Bely Rast 750 kV substation into operation after the substation modernization and expansion project. The ceremony was attended by Anatoly Chubais, Chairman of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia"; Andrey Rappoport, Chairman of the Management Board, OAO "UES FGC"; Yuri Lipatov, Deputy Chairman of the Energy, Transport and Communications Committee of the State Duma; Pyotr Aksyonov, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow City and Head of the Moscow Municipal Services Directorate; and Pyotr Katsyv, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Region Government.

The Bely Rast 750 kV substation is the largest grid facility in the so-called "Moscow Energy Ring". Its expansion was implemented as part of the programme designed to ensure reliable power supply in the Moscow Region within a very short timeframe of 7 months.

Over the period, the 110 kV outdoor switchgear, two 500/110 kV autotransformers of 250 MVA each, and two 110/10/10 kV transformers of 40 MVA each, were installed at the substation. As a result, the substation's capacity grew by 580 MVA to 3,082 MVA, and it is now capable of transmitting power to the 110 kV power grid in the North-West of the Moscow Region.

The project was financed at the expense of OAO "UES FGC", with the amount of investments exceeding RUB1.55 billion.

The modernization of the Bely Rast substation will help address energy shortages experienced during the peak load hours by consumers in the North and West of the Moscow City and the surrounding Moscow Region, where the power grid overload is the highest. Last winter, power supply restrictions had to be imposed on industrial consumers located in these areas. Besides, owing to the substation, technological conditions have been created for new user connections; a reliable energy framework has been put in place to support economic development of the North and North-West of the Moscow Region.

In the near future, an automated system of technological process control will be implemented at the Bely Rast substation. This will enable operators on duty to implement real-time control of all of the substation's equipment, from autotransformers to security systems. These innovations have turned the substation into a "next generation" grid facility.