OREANDA-NEWS. December 12, 2011. KEGOC held the public hearings in Ust-Kamenogorsk on the preliminary environmental impact assessment of the Construction of 500 kV OHTL Ekibastuz – ShHPP – Ust-Kamenogorsk Project.

The representatives of mass media, Akimat of East-Kazakhstan Province, housing and public utilities divisions, passenger transport and motor roads of Beskargai, Ulan and other regions of the Province, labor veterans and interested public members participated in the hearings. The representatives of the structural divisions of KEGOC presented the projects. Earlier the public hearings on the project were successfully held on November, 18 of the current year in Ekibastuz.

The hearings on the project are held in accordance with the requirements of environmental legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the bases of the preliminary environmental impact assessment (Preliminary EIA) and Environmental Management System ISO 14001 effective in KEGOC.

Currently the power connection of East-Kazakhstan Province and UPS of Kazakhstan is provided through the 220 kV EEC – 51 SS transit and 500 kV OHTL EEC – Rubtsovsk – Ust-Kamenogorsk which crosses the territory of Russia. The capacity of the OHTLs is 800 MW, and in emergency operation if 500 kV OHTL Rubtsovsk – Ust-Kamenogorsk is disconnected the capacity reduces to 300 MW making power supply of the Province dependant on the electricity transit through the Russian networks. Implementation of the project will allow increasing the capacity of the networks in North-East area up to 1640 MW and covering the deficiencies of East-Kazakhstan Province regardless of power transit through the UES of Russia. Besides, the implementation of the project is required to provide the full power delivery from Shulba HPP (from 135 MW at the present moment up to 700 MW) under the Bulak HPP water regulating storage commissioning.

From the administrative point of view the OHTL route is designed at North-East within Pavlodar and East-Kazakhstan Provinces.

According to Preliminary EIA the designed substations and 500 kV and 220 kV OHTLs are located outside the specially protected natural areas.

Environmental protection measures used during the construction of 500 kV and 220 kV OHTLs, construction and expansion of substations are intended to minimize the impact on the environment.  

The cost of the project is KZT 42.5 billion, implementation period – 2011-2017. The financing is expected to be from the attracted borrowings and own funds of KEGOC.