RusHydro Group has inaugurated the 320MW Nizhne-Bureyskaya hydropower plant in the Amur region in Russia.
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin attended the inauguration ceremony. Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP is one of RusHydro's key projects in the Far East, priority development region for the Group. Most of RusHydro's ongoing construction projects are located in the region, including Yakutskaya CHP-2, Sakhalinskaya TPP-2, Sovetskaya Gavan' CHP, Ust'-Srednekanskaya HPP in Magadan region and Vostchnaya CHP in Vladivostok. RusHydro Group also recently completed construction and launched 2nd expansion phase of Blagoveschenskaya CHP in Amur region.
Nizhne-Bureyskaya is the second stage of Bureysky hydropower complex and acts as counter-regulator to 2,010 MW Bureyskaya HPP, one of the largest in the country. The function of counter-regulator is to mitigate intra-day volatility of Bureyskaya HPP flushes, enabling it to operate without limitations.
Nizhne-Bureyskaya has design capacity of 320 MW and long-run output of 1.67 TWh. The plant design incorporates a number of advanced technological solutions, for instance, for the first time in Russia, "wall in earth" technology is used as main counter-seepage element.
New hydropower facility will supply electricity to existing and prospective consumers in the unified energy system of the East, such as Vostochny cosmodrome, Power of Siberia gas pipeline, gas-processing complex and mining enterprises. Apart from electricity production, the hydropower dam will be an effective protection against flooding. After the devastating flood in Amur basin in 2013, RusHydro has changed the design of the plant was altered to add counter-flooding capacity of the reservoir.
The major milestones in construction of the plant:
August 27, 2010 – official start of construction;
2011 – RusHydro begins construction of the wall of the pit in the bed of Bureya River;
2012 – RusHydro selects JSC Trest Gidromontazh as general contractor for the project;
2013 – the construction pit is being dried up and laying of concrete begins;
2015 – start of installation of hydropower units;
April 19, 2016 – damming of the Bureya River, in 2016 the earth-filled dam is being built;
March 2017 – start of the filling of the reservoir.
The Nizhne-Bureyskaya hydropower plant complies with the most demanding environmental standards and is a model of interaction between the power engineers and ecologists. In 2014, a trilateral agreement on cooperation was signed between the Administration of Amur region, JSC Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP, Joint project of UN Development Program/Global Environmental Fund and Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation "Conservation of biodiversity in policies and development programs of power sector of the Russian Federation" aimed at protection of biodiversity during construction of the plant.
With the help from RusHydro, Bureysky Natural Park has been established in the area affected by the reservoir. Special feeders have been organized in order to lure away wild animals from the future flood zone. Artificial nesting grounds have been arranged for rare species – mandarin duck. A unique operation of rare plants species transfer from the flood zone has been implemented. For the first time in Russia a rescue operation for wild animals has been organized during the flooding of the reservoir.