On December 29, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. A new turbo-unit has been put into operation today at the branch of the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Vitebskenergo" Vitebsk CHPP, a BELTA correspondent reports. The replacement of turbine №2, which had reached the end of its service life, was carried out under the state comprehensive program for the modernization of fixed assets of the Belarusian energy system for the period up to 2011, funded by RUE "Vitebskenergo". The work began in May of the current year and was successfully completed. The commissioning of the new turbine will allow Vitebsk CHPP to generate an additional 35 million kWh of electricity per year. The installed capacity of the station will be 80 MW. The reliability and efficiency of the station and the energy system as a whole will be improved. At current loads, the operation of the new turbine will ensure a saving of over 720 tons of standard fuel next year. In the future, as the housing stock of Vitebsk is built up and thermal loads of both communal and industrial enterprises increase, fuel savings will grow. As noted at the turbo-unit launch ceremony by the Deputy Minister of Energy of Belarus, Mikhail Mikhaduk, the times demand new economical technologies from the energy system. "Our main task for the next five years is to complete the modernization of energy system facilities commissioned in the 1960s-1970s and to create new high-efficiency capacities. By the end of 2015, we must achieve a 10% reduction in standard fuel for the generation of 1 kWh," he said. The equipment for Vitebsk CHPP was purchased from the Russian enterprise OJSC "Kaluga Turbine Plant", whose specialists, together with the power plant personnel, carried out the installation of the equipment. The general contractor for the complex of construction and installation works for the turbine replacement was OJSC "Tsentroenergoremont". The first stage of Vitebsk CHPP was commissioned in 1954. The installed capacity, including the new turbine, is 80 MW, and the thermal capacity is 716 Gcal/h. The enterprise employs over 400 people. Vitebsk CHPP supplies hot water to the housing and communal services and enterprises of the Western and Central parts of Vitebsk through five heat mains, and supplies steam to 4 major enterprises of the city - OJSC "Vitebskdrev", "Vitebskiye Kovry", "KIM", the Silk Fabric Combine. Connection to the energy system is carried out via six 110 kV power transmission lines.

BELTA