Itatsk 1150 kV-substation

 electrical sub-station  Add category

Itatsk substation, begin of the 1150 KV ultra high voltage long distance line to Chelyabinsk using the Ekibastuz - Kustanay corridor through Kazakhstan. It is located in the vicinity of the new Beryozovskiy thermal power generating station and is connected to the Siberian main 500 KV network by multiple lines to all of the large hydro-electric plants in Krasnoyarksiy Kray. It is considered the beginning of the line as most of the energy will originate from the Siberian end of the corridor to be consumed in the Ural, Middle Volga and Center networks several thousand kilometers to the west. There is still no proper 1150 KV apparatus installed, since there are no 1150/500 KV step down transformer visible separating the lower 1150 KV field from the upper 500 KV field. The 1150 KV line coming in from Barnaul at the lower edge is still being operated at 500 KV but properly terminated by shunts. A pair of 2000 MW 1150/500 KV transformers have been ordered in 2006 to upgrade the transport capacity to the designed 5500 MW at nominal 1150 KV and 4000 A. No doubt the small shunts still visible in this imagery will have to be replaced by their much larger 1150 KV counterparts and numerous modifications will have to be made to line breakers, switchgear, bus bars and control and monitoring appliances. There are plans to extend the 1150 KV line further east to Khabarovsk region and Primorye, making it a proper trans-Russia corridor and a transcontinental electricity mains.