Fortum’s Tobolsk power plant took into commercial use an additional 210 megawatts (MW) of new capacity at the beginning of October 2011. The Tobolsk power plant is the third project in the Russian investment programme completed by Fortum. The new capacity commissioned strongly supports the development of the petrochemical industry and the entire economy in the region.
Serving the petrochemical industry
Tobolsk, with a population to 100,000 people, is located in the Tyumen region of West Siberia. The Tyumen region is a gas- and oil-producing hub and is Russia’s wealthiest region after Moscow. Despite the challenging global economy of a few years ago, electricity consumption in the Tyumen region decreased very little during recent years compared to other regions in Russia. This is due to the energy-intensive industry in the region.
The Tobolsk combined heat and power (CHP) plant with the new power capacity taken into commercial operation in October 2011 was originally inaugurated in 1980. The plant is the city’s most important electricity and heat supplier, and the only producer and supplier of industrial steam for the large petrochemical plant operating in the area. With the commissioning of the new unit, the production capacity of the natural gas-fired power plant is 665 MW of electricity and 2,807 MW of heat.
Progress with investment programme targets
Fortum’s subsidiary in Russia, OAO Fortum, is implementing one of the biggest investment programmes in terms of total capacity in Russian electricity production. The value of the remaining part of the investment programme, calculated at the currency exchange rate at the end of September 2011, was about 1.1 billion euros. The programme is scheduled for completion in 2014 and it will increase the total capacity of Fortum’s power plants in Russia to 5,146 MW, a capacity increase of about 85%.
After completion, Fortum’s investment programme will be an important factor for solid earnings growth in the Russian business. So far, the company has completed three of its investment programme projects. Prior to the Tobolsk power plant, it commissioned Tyumen CHP-1’s new 230-MW unit, which started commercial production in February 2011. This was followed by the June commissioning of Chelyabinsk CHP-3’s unit with its capacity of 226 MW. The investment programme will continue in the city of Nyagan, Khanty-Mansi, where the first of three new 418-MW units is scheduled for commissioning in 2012.