DUSHANBE, July 4, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Gennady Kobtsev has been elected new director general of open joint-stock company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in Tajikistan.

According to the Sangtudinskaya GES-1 press center, the issue of appointment of the new director general of the company was considered at the annual meeting of company’s shareholders that took place on June 29, 2012.

Born in Khabarovsk on December 17, 1972, Gennady Kobtsev received his early education in Khabarovsk before graduating in 1995 from the Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law.  From 1995 to 2007, he worked with OJSC KhabarovskEnergo.  From 2007 to 2010, Kobtsev served as deputy director general of JSK Far East Generating Company.  In 2011-2012, he served as deputy director general of JSC Far East Energy Company.

Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 in Dushanbe on February 16, 2005.  The company was established to complete the construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP).

The Sangtuda-1 HPP is located on the Vakhsh River.  Construction commenced during the Soviet period in the 1980s, but halted in the beginning of the 1990s due to lack of financing when the station was about 20% complete.  An agreement with Russia allowed restarting the construction, with four units entering service in 2008–2009.  The plant was officially commissioned on 31 July 2009.  The plant now reportedly provides around 15% of Tajikistan''s electricity output.