GRES-2 Power Station

The GRES-2 Power Station (or Power Station Ekibastuz) is a power generating station in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan. It is one of the largest coal-fired power stations in the world. GRES-2, built in 1987, has installed capacity of 1,000 MWe and has the world's tallest flue gas stack at convert|419.7|m|ft|0 high. The chimney is about convert|38|m|ft|0 taller than the Inco Superstack. Locals refer to it as "the Cigarette Lighter".

The power station is the start of the Powerline Ekibastuz-Kokshetau and uses a transmission voltage of 1,150 kV, the highest transmission voltage in the world. The extension of this line to Elektrostal in Russia is also designed for 1,150 kV, but it currently operates at only 400 kV. About 3/4 of the energy produced by GRES-2 is exported to Russia.

50% of GRES-2 shares are owned by Inter RAO UES, a joint subsidiary of RAO UES and Rosenergoatom, and 50% 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.

2006 fire

On May 30, 2006, the chimney of the GRES-2 Power Station caught fire as flames and smoke could be seen pouring out of the top of the building. There were no reports of injuries and there was no word on the cause of the blaze. Firemen at the scene said all those inside the building had been evacuated.

ee also

* Ekibastuz GRES-1
* List of chimneys
* List of towers
* List of tallest freestanding structures in the world

External links

* [http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b1297 Smoke-stack diagrams]
* [http://gres2.kz/index.php?view=3 GRES-2 official website]
* [http://ekibastuz.kz/images/gres2.jpgPicture of world's tallest chimney]
*