OREANDA-NEWS. A ceremony was held in Moscow to kick off the construction of a new power unit at the CHPP-26 of OAO "Mosenergo".

The new power unit of the CHPP-26 will be one of the most advanced, efficient and environment-friendly power units in Russia and Europe.

It will use a fourth-generation combined-cycle technology. This technology will help significantly improve the plant's performance, as the new power unit will have an efficiency of 59%.

The new combined-cycle unit of the CHPP-26 will have the largest capacity in Moscow. Its aggregate installed generation capacity is 420 MW of electricity and 265 Gcal/h of heat.

It is the first time in Russia's electric power sector that a new combined-cycle generation unit will be constructed on a turnkey basis by an EPC-contractor selected through a tender—Alstom, a global leader in power engineering. The power unit is expected to be put into operation in Q2 2009.