Dorogobuzh CHPP

History

2025: Ex-Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov's company Innopolis Tech bought Dorogobuzh CHPP

On December 8, 2025, the company of the ex-Minister of Communications of RFNikolai Nikiforov Innopolis Tech acquired the Dorogobuzh CHPP in the Smolensk Region (formerly owned by Smolenskregionteploenergo). The goal of Innopolis Tech is to strengthen in the energy market by mastering cryptocurrency mining.

Nikolai Nikiforov told Business Online about the deal to buy the Dorogobuzh CHPP. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but experts interviewed by the publication estimate it at 3-5 billion rubles. For comparison, the purchase of Tutaevskaya PSU Yaroslavl region, made by Innopolis Tech in 2023, cost 1.4 billion rubles.

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Фото: Freepik

According to Business Online, the Dorogobuzh CHPP, operating since 1957, had an installed capacity of 90 MW. By the beginning of 2025, the station was planned to be decommissioned as economically inefficient. In February 2025, she lost the right to participate in the wholesale market for electricity and capacity.

Nikolay Nikiforov plans to modernize the facility, creating a platform for energy calculations with a capacity of up to 160 MW on its basis. After modernization, the total capacity of the Innopolis Tech sites, including the Tutaevskaya PSU (52 MW), should be 210 MW.

Nikiforov estimates the current share of his company in the global bitcoin mining market at about 0.3%. After the launch of a new site in the Smolensk region, this share, according to his forecasts, should increase to 1.3%. Innopolis Tech's revenue for 2024 amounted to 3.4 billion rubles, net profit exceeded 294 million rubles.

Unlike the project in the Yaroslavl region, where excess heat from mining is used to supply heat to 40 thousand residents of the city of Tutaev, such a social load was not initially provided at the Dorogobuzh CHPP. The company is also working to resolve the station's debts, including to Gazprom, Business Online notes^[1][2]

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