Belarus' largest power substation Postavy is supposed to start working as part of the national power grid in May, BelTA learned from Yuri Mitkovets, Deputy Director General for Capital Construction of the Vitebsk Oblast electrical company Vitebskenergo.
The construction of Belarus' largest 330kV power substation in Postavy proceeds on schedule. The equipment made mainly in China or in Europe has been fully installed. Only small things still need to be taken care of. Cable lines have been built. Startup and commissioning work is in progress. Specialists believe that the power substation will go online in May 2017. In the future it may be used to deliver electricity to the Baltic states taking into account the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant. The plans are the reason behind the choice of the construction site.
Apart from being crucial to distributing the electricity the Belarusian nuclear power plant will generate the power substation in Postavy will have one remarkable peculiarity. The buildings will be heated by an electric boiler house. No emissions will be released into the atmosphere during the power substation's operation.
The 330kV power substation Postavy is being built as part of the project to deliver electricity from the Belarusian nuclear power plant to the rest of the national power grid. It is but one of the 23 startup facilities. Some of them have been commissioned already. All the work will be completed in December 2018. The work is being done in Vitebsk Oblast, Minsk Oblast, and Grodno Oblast. The Grodno Oblast electrical company Grodnoenergo is the customer while the Chinese company NCPE is the general contractor. A large number of Belarusian subcontractors are involved. Over 400 workers are employed as part of the project, including over 120 workers from China. The investment project will cost a total of $340.9 million. As much as 95% of the cost will be covered by a preferential loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.
