The first phase of the GRES-2 regional power station has been launched in Yakutsk. It will replace the Yakutia Regional Power Station, create a capacity reserve and make the region's power supply more reliable, RIA Novosti reports. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took park in the launching ceremony via videoconference. 

The power capacity of the first stage is 193 MW and the heat capacity is 469 Gcal per hour. The station was launched in emergency mode in early October following an accident at the working GRES in Yakutsk, which left 300,000 people without electricity.

"It is of utmost importance for the republic to launch this up to date station. The central part of the region together with its capital is isolated from Russia's unified energy system, so it is impossible to rely on the capacity of the only power station that has been working for over 40 years or the even older Yakutia's thermal power plant," Medvedev said.

RIA Novosti reports that Yakutia's GRES-2 is one of the four heating electric stations that RusHydro got 50 billion rubles from the state budget to build. The other three are the first phase of GRES-2 in Sakhalin, a thermal power plant in Sovetskaya Gavan (the Khabarovsk Territory) and the second phase of the thermal power plant in Blagoveshchensk (completed last December).

According to the prime minister, it is symbolic to launch the GRES-2 in Yakutia during the Year of the Environment. "The station uses the most advanced gas-turbine technology and natural gas as combustible. The launch of the GRES-2 will make it possible to connect consumers to the central heat supply, close the majority of inefficient and hazardous boilers and to improve the environmental situation in the region," Medvedev said.