The Ondskaya station, located on the river Onda in the Republic of Karelia, has been a subject of tough negotiations between the three companies. The winner of that fight appears to be Rusal, which in October 2014 inked a deal on a 2,1 billion rouble acquisition of the station.
For Rusal, the station is of key importance for its Nadvoitsy Aluminium Plant, an industrial facility which for years has been on the verge of closure. A full closure would leave several hundred people without a job in a region from before troubled by economic downturn.
The Kremlin has reportedly taken an active role in the negotiations. During a visit to Karelia in 2014, President Vladimir Putin himself announced that the Nadvoitsy plant would be revived and the jobs saved.
The Ondskaya station has been part of TGC-1, the company controlled by Gazprom subsidiary Gazprom Energy Holding and minority owner Fortum. Reportedly, both Fortum Gazprom Energy Holding have opposed the sale. Commenting on the deal, Gazprom representative Denis Fyodorov says that ”Rusal insists on an acquisition of the station, although I believe that this is not really a good solution”, vspro.info reports.
According to Aleksandr Chuvaev, head of Fortum’s Russia division, both Gazprom and Fortum were ”practically forced to sell the station” to Rusal.
Paradoxically, the selling of the Ondskaya station took place just few weeks before Fortum took over all the hydropower assets of TGC-1.
