Moscow. 25 January 2006. Despite the damage to the Kavkasioni HV transmission line, the Russian energy companies were able to maintain electricity supplies to Georgia and even took steps to secure additional supplies to the country.

As a result of the series of explosions on 22 January 2006 in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia, two main pylons were destroyed and one intermediate pylon was damaged in the Kavkasioni 500 kV line, which carries most of the electricity Russia supplies to Georgia. Afterwards, a few unexploded bombs were found at the blast site.

Experts of GrusRosEnergo, the Russia-Georgia energy JV, and the Southern Transmission Grids (the regional branch of FGC) inspected the pylons blown up and said that the pylons were beyond repair and had to be replaced.

Right after the inspection of the site, work was started to erect new pylons. The situation is complicated by the fact that the blast site is located in a hard-to-reach area where the power line crosses the Kuban River. The distance between the pylons, which are of a special anchor type, is more than 1 km.

At present, GruzRosEnergo's teams are in the process of transporting the new structures to the site for erection. Preparations are underway for the restoration work, which is set to start very soon. According to estimates, the restoration may take about ten days to complete.

Immediately after the explosions, the Russian energy companies took prompt measures and restored power supplies of up to 80 MW to Georgia via the Salkhino 220 kV line and up to 25 MW via the Daryali 110 kV line.

Simultaneously, with the assistance of ZAO "INTER RAO UES", the energy companies started electricity deliveries of up to 40 MW to Georgia's energy distributor, Telasi, via Azerbaijan's energy system, which operates in parallel with the UES of Russia.

Thus, besides restoring full power supplies to Georgia, RAO "UES of Russia" secured additional electricity deliveries of 70 MW from Russia to Georgia's energy system.

Besides, the balance of Georgia's energy system improved notably in the evening of 23 January, when Power Unit 9 (owned by Mtkvari Energetika, a subsidiary of ZAO "INTER RAO UES") at the Tbilisskaya TPP was relaunched after gas supplies were restored to Georgia. By now, the power unit is working at its full capacity, 250MW.