"It is necessary to create an energy pool for central Russia," Director General Anatoly Kopsov said. "Mosenergo could be the core of such a unified network."
Mosenergo, Russia's largest territorial generating company, supplies 80% of Moscow's heating requirements, and meets 85% of power demand in the capital and the Moscow Region. The company's main shareholders are state-controlled companies - electricity monopoly Unified Energy System [RTS: EESR] (50.87%), and energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] (about 25%).
The UES board decided in late September to sell a stake in Mosenergo worth at least $2.1 billion to Gazprom. The additional share issue is expected around March 2007.
"Funds raised from the issue will be used to develop Moscow's energy network," Kopsov said, adding that the energy supply system in the area was in major need of improvement.
UES said earlier that Mosenergo's investment projects include the construction of four new gas-vapor power units. The majority of Mosenergo's plants are gas-fuelled.
The company has 17 power plants in the region with electric power capacity of 10,600 MWt and heat capacity of 34,200 Gkal/hour.
