Nizhnevartovskaya State Regional Power Plant

Location: Izluchinsk, Nizhnevartovskii Region, Khanti-Mansiiskii Autonomous Oblast (Yugra District)
Date of launch: 30 January 1993
Capacity: 1600 MW (two 800 MW blocks)
Charter capital: 290.16 mln rubles
Structure: 23 divisions
Number of workers: 975 (as of 1 January 2006)
Status: 100% subsidiary of RAO UES-Russia

Nizhnevartovskaya State Regional Power Plant is the youngest of its kind in Europe. It also the most ecologically clean. The plant is one of the largest suppliers of electrical power in the Ural Federal District.
Nizhnevartovskaya State Regional Power Plant was the last Russian station to be constructed in the 20th century, and the first in the 21st.

1993 The first block was connected to the grid and commenced power generation.
2003 The second block was launched for industrial use.

The plant is located on the banks of the Bakh 15 km from Nizhnevartovska. The settlement Izluchinsk was erected 1.5 km away from the plant to house its workers and today boasts a population of 16 500.
Nizhnevartovskaya State Regional Power Plant is in Yugra, the largest district in Khanti-Mansiiskii Autonomous Oblast, where it serves the many oil-and-gas companies based in the area.

Brief history

The early 1980s brought a flurry of development in oil and gas extraction in Western Siberia. During this period, one-half of oil drilling was concentrated in the Nizhnevartovskii Region. Power for these activities had to be delivered from Surgutskaya State Regional Power Plant 300 km away. Because of the lack of locally generated power, supply was highly unreliable. It soon became necessary to build a power plant in the region.

In April 1980, the USSR decided to build a power plant in Nizhnevartovska. A site was selected for the plant in August 1982. The first of 25 construction crews was dispatched in March 1983, arrived by sledge and set up camp. Five trailers, two trucks and two buses—this was to be headquarters for the construction of Nizhnevartovskaya State Regional Power Plant. Construction scheduling was decided at the first meeting of the crew in April 1983. Thus began the countdown to the launch of Block #1. Anatolii Brusenskii headed the project, and Vladimir Zhabo was named director of the power plant.

The site selected for construction presented unique engineering challenges unseen in any other domestic and international project. The site had to be filled with 3 to 4 meters of soil, a task that required extracting more than 30 mln cubic meters of sand from the river. The first priorities included building a series of houses on piles and constructing a network. Workers labored between 12 and 16 hours a day, without days off, edged on by team enthusiasm.

By 1986 the foundation was practically finished, Finnish houses were built, a summer camp was completed, and the first houses were renovated and opened for laborers in Nizhnevartovska and Izluchinsk. Focus shifted to construction of the power plant itself.

With the project approved and attention directed towards construction of the plant and Izluchinsk, the selection and training of personnel became a priority issue.

In 1992, crews began work on construction of the first 800 MW block. Thanks to the enormous effort put forth by the innumerous workers involved in the project, the Block #1 came online at 11:51 pm on 30 January 1993.

Construction began anew in 2000 under a Russian energy system investment program.

Block #2 at Nizhnevartovskaya State Regional Power Plant was launched for industrial use at 2:00 pm on 14 November 2003.

The plant today operates at 1600 MW. Izluchinsk is an exemplary example of a worker settlement; it now is home to 16 500.

As of 1 July 2005 Nizhnevartovskaya State Regional Power Plant was spun out Tyumenenergo and registered as an independent entity. Today the plant is part of First Power Generating Company on the Wholesale Energy Market.