T Plus leaves the experiment

As Kommersant found out, T Plus changed its mind about building experimental power units of thermal power plants in Perm and Saratov using pilot Silmash GTE-65 gas turbines. The energy company wants to abandon projects worth more than 20 billion rubles, complaining about Silmash’s reluctance to name the exact price. “T Plus,” according to Kommersant’s sources, is forced to focus on the heating business, which requires large investments in repairs of heating mains. Silmash claims that they have many people willing to buy turbines, including to replace foreign cars.

T Plus wants to abandon projects for the construction of experimental power units using pilot gas turbines GTE-65 produced by Power Machines Alexey Mordashov. The energy company planned to launch power units using these machines at the Saratov CHPP-2 (115 MW) and at the Perm CHPP-14 (105 MW) by the spring of 2028. According to Kommersant, T Plus CEO Alexander Vilesov announced the company’s plans on January 17 at a meeting at the Ministry of Energy. T Plus declined to comment.

T Plus won two projects to build experimental power units using Russian gas turbines in 2021, when the government announced an additional competition for such projects. Specific CAPEX for the construction of a unit at Saratov CHPP-2 is 78.2 thousand rubles. for 1 kW, and at Perm CHPP-14 – 75.5 thousand rubles. According to Kommersant’s estimates, taking into account indexation, the figures increased to 102 thousand and 98 thousand rubles. respectively. The investor will receive increased payments for block power to ensure a return on investment. Generating companies and machine builders are asking the government to hold competitions regularly to guarantee demand for turbines.

T Plus and Silmash negotiated a contract for the supply of GTE-65 turbines for three years. Initially, Silmash planned to supply the prototype to the Severstal thermal power plant (whose main shareholder is also Alexey Mordashov), but the company abandoned the turbine under the pretext of economic problems (see Kommersant, November 22, 2022). T Plus does not want to buy the head sample. The energy company, according to Kommersant’s sources, also complains that it cannot obtain the final price of the turbine from Silmash. One of Kommersant’s interlocutors claims that T Plus wants to exit the projects because it is forced to concentrate on the heating business, which requires large investments in repairs of worn-out heating mains.

Silmash told Kommersant that they have three GTE-65 turbines in production, the first machine will be manufactured in December 2024, followed by testing in 2025 at one of the power facilities and delivery in the same year to the thermal power plant of the first customer. T Plus planned to become one of the customers with the commissioning of thermal power plants in 2028.

According to the current rules of the wholesale energy market, T Plus will have to pay a fine for abandoning projects. The Market Council (the energy market regulator) explained to Kommersant that the fine is 25% of the cost of power supply under the modernization agreement for 48 months. Companies that refuse the modernization project receive payment for capacity at the competitive selection price (CPP), the Ministry of Energy added.

The “Community of Energy Consumers” told Kommersant that they are against reducing responsibility for the refusal to commission facilities selected at the competition: “Thermal power plant modernization programs were justified by a shortage of generation and the inability to continue to operate worn-out power units. This justified the high profitability of the projects. The cost of failure is high – the risk of compromising the reliability of the Unified Energy System, and it should be paid by generators, not consumers.”

Who will now become the buyer of GTE-65 turbines is an open question. A new competition for the vacant volume of 200 MW will not be held, the Ministry of Energy explained: “Such a mechanism is not currently provided.” Silmash claims that it receives many requests for the supply of GTE-65 in 2028–2030 to replace foreign turbines, distributed generation and modernization of regional thermal power plants. Serial production of GTE-65 will begin in 2026 with deliveries starting in 2028, Silmash added.

Independent analyst Yuri Melnikov notes that the GTE-65 turbine would be quite suitable for creating small, efficient, maneuverable power units at thermal power plants in the regions. The risks of unreliable operation of lead samples at thermal power plants can provoke problems in the heat supply of cities, but this can be solved through existing reserve capacities (including peak boiler houses), the expert emphasizes.

Polina Smertina