The new unit is the seventh unit that began commercial operations as part of rehabilitation and modernization work at the plant and is the third one installed in 2013.
The company has commissioned three hydropower units totaling 1,920MW at the plant in 2013 and has produced 23GWh this year.
Together seven operating units total 4,480MW capacity, while the restoration of the Units 3 and 4 continues and is likely to be commissioned in March and June 2014 respectively. The start of the new unit represents that reconstruction of the plant has reached the final stage.
Once the reconstruction works complete, the plant will be fully equipped with new up-to-date equipment with enhanced performance characteristics that meet all safety and reliability requirements by 2014, extending the useful life of the new units to 40 years and maximum efficiency to 96.6%.
Additionally, energy and cavitation features have been enhanced, and the turbines will feature a more efficient process protection system, which will automatically shut down the unit in case of any inadmissible deviations from controlled parameters.
