Several production facilities are planned to be launched and a mini-hydroelectric power station is to be revived at the site of the liquidated OJSC "Voropayevsky DOK"
The property of the now former woodworking plant is located in the urban-type settlement of Voropaevo and the village of Myshki on several land plots with a total area of over 12 hectares. The crisis manager Lyudmila Khoruzhonok settled with creditors by selling off the debtor's assets. In total, during the liquidation proceedings, which lasted less than one and a half years, assets worth over one million rubles were sold.
The real estate attracted special attention from potential investors, which gave local residents hope that they would not be left without work. As a result, private investors are already justifying their hopes. The emerging needs for specialists are met, primarily by employing citizens from the nearest settlements.
ENERGY WITH A GREEN CERTIFICATE
The most unusual asset of the woodworking plant, which was sold at auction, was a mini-hydroelectric power station on the Zarazhanka River. It is located east of the village of Alyoshino. The facility was purchased by investors from the capital. They specialize in creating energy capacities with a green certificate. A further incentive for the revival of the hydroelectric facility was Decree No. 357 "On Renewable Energy Sources". The document is aimed at the balanced development of all types of electricity generation, taking into account the commissioning of the Belarusian NPP, and provides for the purchase of electricity from these installations at stimulating coefficients sufficient for investment payback.
To implement the project, LLC "Gidrospektr" was registered. According to the company's director, Ekaterina Veselkova, the main volume of work required to launch the hydroelectric power station and obtain green energy will be completed in 2021.
– Despite the fact that the HPP was built in 1957, the structure itself is in good condition. Therefore, the current repair and installation of new equipment were planned to be carried out during 2020, in order to launch the facility at new capacities starting from 2021. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced us to postpone the project activities by about a year, – said the manager.
The internals for any such mini-HPP must be produced on an individual order basis. The equipment must take into account the specific features and characteristics of the water body, for example, head and water flow rate. Project documentation is developed based on these factors. Moreover, the Zarazhanka River is shallow from summer to late autumn, so it is necessary to create equipment that operates with low water flow. In addition, new modern mechanisms need to be integrated into the existing HPP premises, ensuring minimal structural intervention. As practice shows, the manufacturing of such "hardware" takes from eight months to a year.
An agreement with a manufacturer from Western Europe was only reached by summer. The optimal period for installation work had passed, so it was decided to postpone the equipment installation to the following year. However, there was still plenty to do at the facility.
– We conducted an expert examination of the station and identified its potential weak points. The main attention had to be paid to the dam. We carried out current repairs, as well as a set of measures to improve the safety of the hydraulic structure, in order to minimize the threat of its possible breakthrough, – explained Ekaterina Veselkova.
The installed capacity of the mini-HPP will be 300 kW, which is quite sufficient to meet the energy needs of Voropayevo. The station will be fully automated and remotely controlled, so it will be possible to monitor power, water flow rate, and even the temperature on the generator using a smartphone.
While addressing current tasks, investors are simultaneously calculating long-term prospects. The next stage in the project implementation will be the organization of activities using electricity generated by the mini-hydro power plant. Presumably, this concerns the production of services. Not far from the station, the businessmen acquired a land plot for the construction of a recreation center. Its concept is currently being developed, which will undoubtedly be linked to environmental friendliness: an ecologically favorable location, consumption of environmentally friendly resources, provision of services using green energy.
PARAMETRIC STYLE
The most large-scale acquisition by investors at the sites of the Voropayevo Woodworking Plant was the purchase of a property complex for wood processing and the production of wooden products. The new owner of the workshops and equipment is "ThermoHouse" LLC from Minsk.
— We specialize in wholesale and retail trade of electrical goods. When deciding to acquire a non-core asset, there was an element of chance, but it fits perfectly into the company's development strategy, whose owners strive to diversify the business, including by creating the production of a real product, — said Viktor Goroshko, director of "ThermoHouse".
The complex includes 27 buildings with a total area of about 13.4 thousand sq. m, as well as 140 units of specialized equipment. All this is located on a land plot of over 7 hectares in total. The territory has preserved platforms for unloading bulky cargo, overpasses, railway tracks, a cargo railway station is nearby, and the R45 Polotsk — Glubokoye — Lithuanian border (Kotlovka) highway passes through.
At the initial stage, investors are forced to invest funds in the restoration of the asset and ensuring its energy efficiency, as the main facilities of the former combine have not received proper maintenance for many years, explained Viktor Goroshko. In addition to subcontracting organizations, about 15 people are involved in the repair work, mainly residents of Voropayevo who are employed by the company. Next year, it is planned to hire about 50 more specialists. It is necessary to optimize production chains and introduce new technologies for the production of a wide range of goods, the majority of which will be oriented towards foreign markets. These include lumber products, solid wood furniture, as well as electrical goods and related items.
— For 2021, we set the task to fine-tune all production processes to optimal parameters, including equipping the workshops with the missing equipment. For this, we expect to attract resources from banks, including foreign ones, and other financial and credit institutions, — added Viktor Goroshko.
The initial revenue target is about $100-200 thousand per month, with the main part of it being generated from export supplies.
The highlight of the new production should be parametric furniture. Its main difference from serial models is its exotic, unusual shape, and thanks to the imagination of designers and modern technologies, it turns out to be functional, comfortable, and original.