Reftinskaya state district power plant is a major air and water polluter, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin said while visiting the plant’s premises.

‘To grow greener, the plant needs to switch from the coal produced in Ekibastuz to that made in Kuzbass: this will decrease the amount of harmful emissions by about 30% to 40% as well as make the plant’s performance more efficient. Only 1 million out of 11 million tons used by Reftinskaya to produce electricity last year was actually delivered from Kuznetsk basin last year. However, it is essential that the plant uses at least 4 million tons of Kuzbass coal a year, as this will lead to a 25% to 30% drop in emissions and will allow the company to use its capacity to the fullest,’ Misharin observed.

‘The power plant representatives and I have already agreed that they should design a special program providing for a gradual improvement in the plant’s environmental performance. Nevertheless, there exists another problem: that of the new ash handling system. This project must be implemented within the next two and a half years, otherwise the plant simply won’t be able to operate,’ the Governor added.

In the meantime, the current ash handling project proposed by Enel receives a lot of bitter criticism from the public.