NOVOBUREISKY SETTLEMENT (Amur region), May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin during a linkup with the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant gave a command to put into operation the plant’s hydropower unit No 4. The HPP had been damaged in a major manmade disaster in 2009. “The restoration and emergency repair operations have been completed and the plant is entering a new period, namely, of a planned technological renovation,” Putin said.

The restoration of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is going on schedule. Seven new hydropower units with the total capacity of 4.49 gigawatts are working at the plant. Hydropower unit No 4 has passed all the necessary tests, which confirmed its readiness for the connection to the grid and operation under load.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP on the Yenisei River is the largest in Russia and one of the world’s most powerful hydropower plants, the construction of which was carried out in the period from 1968 to 2000. The main structure of the HPP is a cut into the rock concrete dam with the height of 245 meters, length more than one kilometer and width of 100 meters. The HPP’s turbine room has 10 powerful hydropower units. Six of them are currently in operation.

On August 17, 2009, the destruction of hydropower unit No 2 occurred in the plant’s turbine room, resulting in the inflow of masses of water under high pressure. The turbine room was flooded. Seventy-five people were killed in the accident. The plant’s three hydropower units were completely destroyed and six - damaged. In 2010, the work of the four least of all damaged hydropower units was restored at the HPP. After that the hydroelectricity company RusHydro launched the second stage of the restoration of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP during which it is planned to install 10 absolutely new hydropower units with the service life of 40 years and maximum efficiency of 96.6%

The restoration and reconstruction of the hydropower plant is planned to be completed in 2014.