Gazprom Energoholding promotes China – Kommersant

According to Kommersant, Gazprom Energoholding may start building a 330 MW combined-cycle thermal power plant in Yakutia with commissioning in 2026–2027. The company wants to supply two Chinese gas turbines AGT-110, an analogue of the Russian GTD-110M, to the station. The new thermal power plant, according to regulators, is needed to cover the energy shortage arising from the protracted construction of two units of RusHydro’s Neryungri GRES and growing energy exports to China. The cost of the gas thermal power plant, according to analysts, will exceed $500 million, which will again increase business payments for energy in the rest of the Russian Federation.

Gazprom Energoholding (GEH) wants to build a 330 MW combined-cycle thermal power plant in the Neryungri district of Yakutia, four sources in the industry told Kommersant. Two interlocutors of Kommersant, who are familiar with the company’s plans, say that the GEKh employees have already chosen a site near the village of Chulman. It is assumed that the GEH will stretch to the station a gas pipeline 8 km long from the Power of Siberia (consumption – 0.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year). The GEC did not answer Kommersant’s request.

The GEKh promises to launch the first stage of a thermal power plant consisting of two gas turbine units (GTU) in the fall of 2026, and to build a steam turbine by the fall of 2027. In order to have time to build a thermal power plant from scratch within this timeframe, the company wants to buy Chinese AGT-110 gas turbines (manufacturer – AECC Gas Turbine). The AGT-110 project has been developing at least since 2018, it is based on the Ukrainian development of the GTD-110, that is, the Chinese turbine can be considered the “half-sister” of the GTD-110M of Rostec, analyst Yuri Melnikov notes.

The new TPP in Chulman, according to the profile regulators, is needed to cover the energy shortage in the energy system of the East, the volume of which in 2026 will exceed 2.8 billion kWh. Energy is needed to supply the Eastern Polygon, to export to China (plus 1.2 billion kWh), to cover domestic demand (0.5 billion kWh), and also because of the growing accident rate at old stations. Against the backdrop of increasing demand, RusHydro warns of a shift in the launch of two power units under construction at the coal-fired Neryungrinskaya GRES (450 MW) for two years, until 2028, Kommersant sources say. RusHydro told Kommersant that the construction of the blocks is on schedule, the main equipment has been contracted and is being manufactured by Power Machines.

The Ministry of Energy, according to Kommersant, supports the proposal of the GEKH on the construction of a combined cycle thermal power plant. The issue will be considered by the government commission on the development of the electric power industry on April 27, Kommersant’s sources specify. Two of them claim that the Neryungri GRES power unit construction project will not be cancelled.

The CAPEX of the CHP in Chulman has not been determined. According to Matvey Tayts from the Sinara investment bank, the cost of construction could reach 23 billion rubles. without infrastructure. Another analyst, who asked to remain anonymous, estimates the CAPEX at $500 million due to the harsh climate, excluding infrastructure. GEKH will most likely recoup investments through a premium on the price of capacity for consumers in the European part of the Russian Federation, the Urals and Siberia.

“It would be strange and wrong to pass on to consumers the investment costs of energy companies related to the expansion of electricity exports or an increase in the accident rate at energy companies,” they say in the Community of Energy Consumers. can be ensured by an increase in generation and flows from existing capacities.”

One of Kommersant’s interlocutors points out that in order to build a thermal power plant on non-localized turbines, the conditions for the modernization program for thermal power plants in the Far East will have to be changed, or an exception should be made for the power plant. Analyst Yuri Melnikov notes that there is no significant history of commercial operation of the Chinese AGT-110 turbine, especially outside of China. The first sample, the analyst continues, was tested at the CNOOC thermal power plant in Shenzhen in 2021-2022, including with connection to the power grid. The time-spaced launch of the gas turbine and steam power units of the CCGT is a very unusual and risky decision that will lengthen the commissioning time of the power unit, increase total costs and reduce reliability, he believes.

Polina Smertina