Ekibastuz GRES-2 Power Station
The GRES-2 Power Station is a coal-fueled power generating station in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan. GRES-2, commissioned in 1987, has installed capacity of 1,000 MWe and has the world's tallest flue gas stack at high. The reinforced concrete chimney is about taller than the Inco Superstack in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It is the tallest chimney ever built.
The power station is the start of the Powerline Ekibastuz–Kokshetau and uses a transmission voltage of 1,150 kVAC, the highest transmission voltage in the world. The extension of this line to Chelyabinsk in Russia is also designed for 1,150 kV, but it currently operates at only 500 kV. About 3/4 of the energy produced by GRES-2 is exported to Russia.
Fifty percent of GRES-2 shares are owned by Inter RAO UES, and fifty percent by Kazakhstan's government.Individual units
The planned capacity of 4,000 MWe is to be provided by eight equal units, 500 MWe each.
- Unit 1 was launched into service in December, 1990.
- Unit 2 was launched into service in December, 1993.
- Construction of Unit 3 was started 1990 but later stopped.
