POLOTSK DISTRICT, 1 March (BelTA) – Slovakian investors show interest in the construction of the Beshenkovichi hydropower plant, BelTA learned from Yuri Mitkovets, Deputy Director General for Capital Construction of the Vitebsk Oblast electrical company Vitebskenergo.
A cascade of hydropower plants is being built on the Zapadnaya Dvina River. The Vitebsk hydropower plant and the Polotsk hydropower plant already operate in test mode. There are plans to build a hydropower plant in Beshenkovichi. “We seek an investor. There are plans to use direct investments for building the Beshenkovichi hydropower plant. It is the key condition. Proposals have been received from several companies from China and Russia. Slovakia has been showing strong interest recently. Representatives of Slovakia have been to Belarus to study the situation on site. A new round of preliminary talks is supposed to take place in March. Work is in progress to agree how much work will be done, where the hydropower plant will be located and on what conditions the project will be implemented — the establishment of a joint venture or the arrival of a foreign investor,” noted the executive.
Yuri Mitkovets stressed that all the technical and economic parameters of the hydropower plant remain unchanged, however, auxiliary facilities can be changed if the changes do not influence energy generation parameters. The Beshenkovichi hydropower plant will have to generate 33MW of electricity. The installed output capacity of the Vitebsk hydropower plant is 40MW, that of the Polotsk hydropower plant is 22MW. The cascade of the hydropower plants will allow saving about $24 million per annum at current prices for natural gas by reducing fuel import. The environmental footprint will be reduced. For instance, the Polotsk hydropower plant will allow decreasing harmful emissions into the atmosphere by 45,000 tonnes, with the Vitebsk hydropower plant reducing emissions by 72,000 tonnes.
The hydropower plants are being built on the Zapadnaya Dvina River in accordance with government programs on building hydropower plants and on developing the Belarusian power grid. BelTA reported earlier that about 90MW of new electricity-generating installations will be commissioned in 2017.
