Russia's largest hydropower operator RusHydro launched on Monday the fifth hydropower unit at Siberia's Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydropower Plant damaged in a deadly accident in 2009.
The launch ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who pressed a symbolic button to start the unit's operation while the RusHydro management told the premier about the process of the power plant's reconstruction after the accident.
The accident occurred at the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant on Siberia's Yenisei River in August 2009, killing 75 people and destroying a turbine hall. The accident also destroyed three hydropower units and damaged the other seven. The plant is under reconstruction. All repair works at the hydropower plant are expected to be completed by December 2014.
"From 2012 to 2014, three power units will be launched into operation in the plant's turbine room annually," a RusHydro official told RIA Novosti.
The launch of the hydropower units is expected to boost the plant's capacity to 6.4 GW from the current 2.6 GW.
The plant's first four repaired hydropower units and also a new spillway went into service in January this year.
Putin instructed the Finance Ministry and national development bank Vnesheconombank to find sources of RusHydro's recapitalization.
"I am requesting the Finance Ministry and Vnesheconombank to work on the issue of finding the sources of financing to recapitalize RusHydro to guarantee the implementation of its projects," Putin said.
Located more than 4,000 km east of Moscow in the remote region of Khakassia, the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant is one of the biggest hydroelectric plants in the world.
