Results of the Anniversary International Trilateral Meeting on the Protection and Management of the Lake Inari Ecosystem Announced

A trilateral working meeting on the management of the Lake Inari water regime between TGC-1’s managers, and engineers, and representatives of the Finland and Norway’s energy systems has been held in Inari village, Finland.

In his opening speech, Sergey Redkin, Deputy General Director for Development, wished the participants a successful and fruitful cooperation and said that “For fifty years, the three courtiers developed their cooperation, guided by the principles of honesty, responsibility, and mutual respect. Past experience makes it clear that the existing international team of professionals will be able to successfully complete any undertaking in the future.”

Apart from Sergey Redkin, the seminar was attended by Vladimir Budarin, Chief Engineer Adviser, Alexander Novikov, Chief Engineer of the Kolskiy Branch, and Pazskiye HEPP Cascade’s managers, including Igor Patsan, Director, and Nikolai Vorobyev, Chief Engineer.

During the meeting, the members of the trilateral Commission discussed and approved a programme of water release from Lake Inari for the second half 2009. It was agreed that the Finland’s representatives would prepare a water release schedule for the first half 2010 using the forecast for the rate of water inflow into Lake Inari, and Russian and Norwegian hydroelectric power plants’ equipment repair plans and would submit it for consideration to the workgroup. It was also decided that in order to reduce the period over which water is not released from Lake Inari, Russia and Norway would coordinate and synchronize their repair schedules.

At the end of the meeting, the workgroup scheduled the next commission’s meeting for 15-17 February 2010 and decided to convene it in Bodø, Norway.

For reference

Trilateral Agreement

In 1959, the governments of the USSR, Norway, and Finland entered into an agreement “On the Regulation of the Lake Inari Water Regime through the Kaitakoski Hydroelectric Power Plant.” The agreement was designed to provide control over the water level in Lake Inari located in Finland and the Pasvik River, which is the outlet from the lake and flows through Finland, Russia, and Norway.

There are seven hydroelectric power plants on the river, with five of them united into the Pazskiye HEPP Cascade of TGC-1 and the other two plants being part of the energy system of Norway. Kaitakoski HEPP, the first plant in the Pazskiy Cascade, regulates the water system by directly affecting the water level and maintaining it so that the downstream hydroelectric power plants can function normally.

In order to promptly address issues that arise within this complex energy project, a trilateral commission was established. It is responsible for such issues as the development of and control over schedules of water release from Lake Inari, coordination of equipment repair and maintenance plans at Russian and Norwegian HEPPs, Kola Peninsula’s fishery and water ecosystem conservation.

The operations of TGC-1 are to a large extent driven by the need to coordinate its actions with partners in adjacent countries with regard to the use of across-the-border water resources, arising from the geographical distribution of Company’s structural units.

TGC-1 operates 40 hydroelectric power plants in three entities of the Russian Federation, including the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast, and Murmansk Oblast. The HEPPs of TGC-1 have a total installed capacity of 2,856.9MW, which is more than 45% of the Company’s overall installed capacity (6,278.4MW). At the current step in power industry development, HEPPs are the most efficient and environmentally friendly source of electric power.