Unipro : Yaivinskaya GRES has launched a pilot operation of an environmental project providing for installation of fish protection devices (FPD).

Yaivinskaya GRES Branch has launched a pilot operation of an environmental project providing for installation of fish protection devices (FPD). Fish protection structures have been installed on the power plant's waterworks in order to prevent biological resources from penetrating the water intake facilities.

In September 2020, the Branch completed the construction and installation works and proceeded with pilot operation and FPD performance evaluation conducted by a specialist contractor according to the program approved by the supervisory authority. The Yaiva River qualifies as a fishery basin. Yaivinskaya GRES takes water from the river for process needs (cooling down steam in turbine condensers, cooling down equipment, feeding recirculating water systems, and treating water to feed boilers and heating networks). River water is supplied to the bank pump station through power canals. T

he fish protection system installed in the river bed at the inlets to the pump station water intake facility makes it possible to evade the risk that young fish will be killed in the circulation pumps. The device is designed as an air bubble curtain with a fish-diverting floating guard: a solid wall of air bubbles stretches up to the water surface effectively screening off the fish. Young fish are captured by the air and taken back to the river. The engineering solutions used to design the FPD factor in the topographic features of the water bottom and current velocity patterns.

The project has been implemented to comply with the legal requirements regarding protection of aquatic bioresources and requirements of the water use contract. The design documentation has been duly approved by the regional branch of the Federal Agency for Fishery. The cost of the project amounts to RUB 55 million.