OREANDA-NEWS. August 14, 2012. Comprehensive testing of a new hydroelectric unit with a capacity of 29.5 MW was successfully completed on Lesogorskaya HPPs of Vuoksa HHPs Cascade JSC TGC-1 in Leningrad Oblast.

The main equipment and automated systems of the new turbine worked in normal mode of operation for 72 hours during the test. Currently, the hydroelectric unit provides its power to the unified energy system of the North-West, and permission was received for start of operation.

According to Vladimir Tsvetkov, Head of the Capital Construction Projects Department of JSC TGC-1, “In the process of construction and installation of new machines a number of unparalleled technical solutions have been applied on practice. During the modernization an automatic control system of technical processes was installed that allows remote start and monitoring of the work of hydroelectric units from a single control room from any part of the country.”

This is a third new hydroelectric unit of Lesogorskaya HPP and the sixth unit within the framework of the comprehensive reconstruction of the two power plants of Vuoksa HPPs cascade that stipulates replacement of 8 hydroelectric units.

The Vuoksa HPPs Cascade is located in the Vyborgskiy District of Leningrad Oblast on the Vuoksa River (the strongest river of the Karelia Isthmus, it runs from Lake Saima on the territory of Finland and flows into Lake Ladoga). It was formed in August, 1949 on the base of Lesogorskaya and Svetogorskaya Hydroelectric Plants. The enterprise is a fundamental source of power for the Karelian Isthmus, it generates power for the general electrical system and covers the peaks of the daily load curve of the electric system. The HPP dams also serve as bridges and are equipped with automobile crossings.

The first new hydroelectric unit of the Vuoksa Cascade, on Svetogorskaya HPP, was put into operation in May of 2009. The technical re-equipment of the Cascade is expected to be completed in 2013. The project is implemented with the active support from the controlling shareholder of the company, LLC Gazprom Energoholding (100% Gazpromsubsidiary).