Modernization is powerfully delayed – Newspaper Kommersant No. 204 (7405) dated 11/02/2022

Since the spring, generating companies have begun to noticeably delay the launch of power units under the modernization program. As Kommersant found out, six projects for 575 MW worth 11 billion rubles are already behind schedule. According to power engineers, the reasons for the delays are disruptions in the supply of Russian equipment and components. The problems will only grow: the companies have already shifted to the right the launch of 11 power units with a capacity of 3 GW and a cost of 46 billion rubles.

Kommersant got acquainted with the schedule for the actual launch of TPP modernization projects scheduled for commissioning this year. By November 2022, the generating companies were supposed to launch 14 renovated power units with a total capacity of 2.74 GW. Eight facilities for 2.2 GW have already been commissioned, but six of them were launched at the beginning of the year, when there were no problems with the supply of equipment.

Noticeable delays in the commissioning of projects began in the spring. In total, six projects are behind schedule by 575 MW. Thus, the launch of a power unit at the Novo-Salavatskaya CHPP for 105 MW (the main source of energy for Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat) worth about 0.96 billion rubles has been delayed for eight months. and the ninth unit of the Permskaya CHPP-9 for 65 MW of the company “T Plus” worth 1.6 billion rubles.

T Plus also delays the commissioning of the tenth unit of Permskaya CHPP-9 for a month with a CAPEX of 2.85 billion rubles. LUKOIL was supposed to launch a power unit at the Krasnodar CHPP on November 1 for 3.73 billion rubles, but, according to the information of the System Operator (energy system dispatcher), modernization measures are still underway there. T Plus told Kommersant that by the end of the year they would launch a power unit at Permskaya CHPP-9, and the postponements were due to a delay in the delivery of components.

The two generating companies have decided to move the project launch date to January 2023. We are talking about a block of Kirishskaya GRES for 65 MW worth 434.7 million rubles. OGK-2 (part of Gazprom Energoholding, GEH) and the power unit of the Irkutsk CHPP-6 for 65 MW worth 1.3 billion rubles. Irkutskenergo (controlled by En+).

In subsequent years, problems with modernization will obviously grow. Generating companies have shifted to the right the launch of 11 more projects with commissioning in 2023-2027. Their total capacity is 3.1 GW, CAPEX is 46.7 billion rubles. For example, the GEH has postponed five more projects – two units of the Kirishskaya GRES until January 2025 and until July 2026, two units of the Surgutskaya GRES-1 until January 2028, and one unit of the Severnaya TPP until 2026.

The government has allowed companies to delay the launch of units without paying fines, but the investor loses the capacity payment for each month of delay, and the delivery time for capacity is also reduced. In the first year of operation of the facility, the investor is reimbursed only for the costs of operating new equipment. According to Maxim Dyakin from Vygon Consulting, the total monthly payment for capacity for six “lagging” facilities in the first year of delivery is 80 million rubles. Eight objects that have already entered the market receive a total of approximately 400 million rubles. per month.

The “Council of Energy Producers” (CPE, which unites the generating companies of the Russian Federation) told Kommersant that in 2022 there was a problem of disruption and transfer of supplies of main, auxiliary equipment and components by domestic producers. They note that in 2021-2022 there was a significant increase in the cost of equipment, metal, building materials, equipment rental, services of contractors, which will also affect the implementation of projects. The EIT recalled that the one-part price of the wholesale energy market is growing by less than 5% with inflation of about 15%.

The Market Council (energy market regulator) told Kommersant that in 2022 the modernization program is carried out mainly without adjusting the original plans and deadlines. “According to the results of September, the total payment for the upgraded capacity amounted to about 350 million rubles. Compensation for the capital costs incurred for the modernization is provided only from the second year of delivery,” they said.

“We doubt that consumers of electricity have other feelings regarding the program for the modernization of old thermal power plants, except for regrets about the funds that could be spent for the benefit of the Russian economy,” Kommersant was told in the Community of Energy Consumers.

Polina Smertina