Russia to transfer electricity to China in 2008

The first phase of an electricity transfer project from Russia to China will be launched in 2008, Xinhua reported (in Chinese). Russia will start supply from 20 to 60 billion kWh of electricy to China on the first phase using existing equipment in board of Russia, said Leonid Drachevsky, the chairman of the China-Russia Friendship Committee for Peace and Development. Large new facilities will be constructed jointly by the two countries during the second and third phases of the project. The electricity pricing mechanism has been settled by both sides, said Drachevsky. Drachevsky is also the deputy director of United Energy Systems, the Russian national electricity company.