26.05.2022 // United Engine Corporation has created GTA-8, the first Russian gas turbine power plant for offshore production platforms. Its installation on an ice-resistant platform off the coast of Yamal is a truly special event, because such platforms previously only used imported power units.

"The start of batch production of GTA-8 power plants demonstrates the ability of the Russian manufacturing industry to roll out competitive high-tech products that will replace imported equipment," says Aleksandr Stotsky, general director of the Project Office for Arctic Development (POAD).

First GTA-8 shipments are scheduled for 2023. The first four gas-turbine power plants with a total capacity of 32 MW will be installed on the Arctic ice-resistant platform Kamennomysskoye – More, which produces natural gas at an offshore field of the same name off the Yamal coast.

"Russian products are filling more and more niches and segments previously occupied by imported products. And GTA-8 plants, which are already being manufactured in Russia, are a prime example of that. It is especially telling given that the new power plants will work at sea on the Arctic shelf, a segment highly dependent on imports," says Aleksey Fadeev, doctor of economics, executive director of the Association of Polar Explorers of Murmansk Region and a POAD expert.

The GTA-8 dual-fuel gas-turbine plant was designed with the extreme Arctic climate in mind. It is resistant to salt water and can withstand severe winds and temperatures below -50°C.

At northern latitudes, it is especially important that the new power plants will produce both electricity and heat, thus fully covering the platform's needs. And the ability to choose which fuel to use—diesel or gas—reduces the cost of operation, makes maintenance easier and ensures safe use of the GTA-8 in northern seas.

The GTA-8 proves that import substitution has become an additional source of motivation for Russian enterprises.