How Russia powers energy efficiency with local content

Officials of Gazprom, Russia’s energy company, said during a tour of its facilities by African journalists and experts, that the company’s production equipment were all locally sourced.

Alexey Mitusov, Head, Capital Building Department, Gazprom’s Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHPP), said most of the equipment used at the power plant to generate electricity and heat were produced in Russia.

Mitusov said the plant, which began operation in 1957, supplied electricity and heat to industries, residential and public buildings in the southwestern part of St. Petersburg, the Admiralteysky, Kirovsky and Krasnoselsky districts with modern technologies.

According to him, the plant is the source of heat for more than 500,000 private consumers and big production companies, including the PJSC Severnaya Verf shipyard, building plant and seaports.

“From 2012 to 2017, Gazprom conducted an extensive renovation of the Pervomaiskaya CHPP.

“In fact, a new modern plant has been built with two 180 megawatt combined-cycle power units and a combined auxiliary building with boiler equipment and a cogeneration unit.

“In terms of power capacity, the enterprise is among the top five largest CHPP in St. Petersburg. Natural gas is the main fuel,” he said.

He said the renovation of the CHPP resulted in the replacement of the out-dated steam power and auxiliary equipment, as well as increased capacity of heat and power production.

According to him, the station which runs 24 hours service has steam, voltage, heating, boiling and control units.
Mitusov said the plant supplied continuous heat for hot water supply to consumers, while it uses combined-cycle gas turbines to generate electricity.

The team was also conducted round the Research and Production Factory, Izmeron (part of Bronka Group Holding), one of the leading manufacturers of equipment for oil and gas production.

Izmeron, which has Gazprom as its major client, works with major oil and gas companies in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and non-CIS countries.

Mr Ruslan Sazontsev, Deputy Director, Commercial Development of LLC, NPF Zavod, Izmeron, said the company’s high-tech equipment were used for hydrocarbon drilling, production plant, engineering services, construction and repair of wells in Russia.

He said for many years, Gazprom had been purchasing equipment from the factory for their use at its fields in Yamal, Eastern Siberia, the Southern Ural and Southern Russia.

“Izmeron has launched the batch production of carbonic acid-resistant and hydrogen sulfide-resistant downhole equipment, which is currently in use at the Gazprom Urengoyskoye, Orenburgskoye and Astrakhanskoye fields.

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“The upgrade of the production capacities enables the enterprise to increase output and to expand its production from 50 to 200 items,” he said.

The team of journalists and experts also visited the JSC Nevsky Zavod (JSC NZL), St. Petersburg’s oldest industrial enterprise founded in 1857.

The company, which employs 2,000 workers, has been manufacturing equipment for Gazprom since 2019.

Mr Alexander Sergeev, Production Director of the company, while conducting the team round the factory’s key products including 32 MW capacity Gas Compressor Units (GCUs) and 32 MW gas turbine units, centrifugal and axial compressors, said all of them had local inputs.

The company’s other products are: steam turbine units with a capacity of up to 25 MW, electrically driven GCUs, turning and milling machines, generating power units, unitistion section and integrated automation systems for industrial facilities.

The African team witnessed the melting of metal to liquid form, which is processed for a desired shape of gas turbines and compressors for the country’s oil and gas industry and other clients.

Sergeev said the company’s products were used in Gazprom’s large-scale investment projects that were of strategic importance to Russia.

The GCUs are key equipment used at the compressor stations, which are part of gas trunk lines, as well as at the booster compressor stations of gas producing and gas processing facilities.