IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA In Russia To Construct The 1,020 MW Substation For The Votkinskaya Hydropower Station

• After signing an agreement worth €32M with RusHydro, the world's second largest hydropower utility
• This new installation will supply energy to one million residents in central Russia and incorporate the latest technology in GIS, replacing the now-obsolete current substation that was constructed in 1963
• This IBERDROLA subsidiary will take on various challenges: first ever construction of a 500 kV substation in extreme weather conditions (temperatures as low as -38º) while meeting strict deadlines

IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA has begun constructing the Votkinskaya substation, the first major project within the electricity transmission grid business in Russia, after being awarded a contract worth €32M by RusHydro, the world's second largest hydropower company.

This facility will become the largest electricity transmission enclave in central Russia and among the most important in the country. The substation has been designed for receiving energy generated by the hydropower plant of the same name, which boasts a power capacity of 1,020 MW, and supplying power to a million residents living in the regions of Perm, Udmurt, Kirov, Bashkir and Sverdlovsk.

IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA will erect this new infrastructure on the same site as the current substation that was constructed in 1963 and, while still operating, has become obsolete.

This IBERDROLA subsidiary will tackle numerous challenges with this project, since it will construct a 500 kV substation for the first time and do so in extreme weather conditions, as temperatures that could drop as low as -38º, while meeting strict deadlines: the substation should be operative by the end of this year.

The new Votkinskaya substation will be housed inside a building and equipped with cutting-edge technology in GIS (Gas Insulated Switchgear), which is the most modern, secure and efficient on the market. This enables the facilities to not only take up 90% less space than conventional models while better adapting to the environment but also to incorporate the latest in technological advances.

IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA will construct these facilities on the basis of the experience acquired commissioning state-of-the-art substations of this sort throughout the last 10 years in Spain. This experience has made the company a universal benchmark in technological renovations in the electricity distribution sector.

For this Votkinskaya turnkey project, the IBERDROLA subsidiary will handle the engineering, storage, construction and commissioning of the infrastructure. The work will be undertaken with the old substation still in service, adding a certain degree of complexity to the work and requiring the establishment of a series of stages to hand control of the original station over to the new one.

It is also worth mentioning the elevated level of quality required for this project by RusHydro, a Russian power utility with 36,005 MW installed power in this country, with nine hydropower stations located along the Volga-Kama river, wind farms and dozens of mini-hydropower stations.