The Repair Works are Going on According to the Schedule

On June 20, the RA Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan visited the "Yerevan Thermal Power Plant" CJSC and got acquainted with the C1 Inspection (repair works) of the Combined-Cycle Power Plant Unit, which was started on June 3 and will be continued to July 29.

The director of plant Hovakim Hovhannisyan informed the Minister, that the repair works are going on round the clock, according to the schedule. He, also, excluded the possibility of delay:

- The significance of the YCCPP Unit for our country's energy balance is great. The tariff for the electricity produced here is less, than the production of other TPPs.Therefore,we must  do everything to exclude any schedule delay. Moreover, we will try to join the unit a few days earlier, said Hovakim Hovhannisyan.

The YCCPP Unit was built and completed in 2010, April 21. The construction works were funded by the Japan Bank loan program for International cooperation and lasted for 22 months.

From 2010 April 21 to 2014 June 3, the unit has worked in ongoing load schedule and has delivered to the RA electricity system about 6.2 billion kWh of electricity. In above-mentioned period, due to the high efficiency (about 50% efficiency greater), the unit contributed to deterrence of rates of electricity, in the natural gas price growth conditions.

Either the former USSR production plants, or any modern production plant, has it՛s own normative repair terms, which is mandatory in terms of reliable operation of the equipment. As to the CCPP Unit, there is an electronic calculator placed on, which calculates allowable standard lifetime, and which records the actual operation of the unit interval, also.

The standard lifetime of the YCCPP, defined by the manufacturers, is 36 000 conventional hours, and the Unit, from 2010 April 21 to 2014 June 3, already has worked on more than 39 000 conventional hours.

The excess of the actual work conventional hours in future may be highly dangerous, and may cause serious and irreparable injury of the equipments, the restoration costs of which can be ten times more compared to repair costs.

Besides, the excess of the actual standard operation period will result in the elimination of the guarantees provided by the manufacturers.

The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan familiarized himself with the work done:

- The YCCPP is a plant with 242 MW installed capacity, which has worked at full capacity in the past 4 years and has delivered about 6.2 billion kWh of electricity to the electricity system.

Part of that was consumed in the domestic market, while the rest was shipped to Iran in the frame of the project “Gas for electricity”, said the minister.

In his speech, the Minister said, that for the more production of electricity at Yerevan TPP will be needed to build one another unit, like this.