MOSCOW, November 8 - RAPSI, Alyona Yegorova. An appellate court postponed until November 24 the hearing of an $801,200 lawsuit filed by the Rusal Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter against RusHydro for losses incurred after an accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydropower Plant, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) reported from the court on Tuesday.

RusHydro is Russia's largest power generating company comprising 60 renewable energy source plants, including the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydropower Plant, which is presently under repair.

RUSAL is the world's leading aluminum manufacturer. It occupies 10 percent of the global market.

The hearing was postponed upon the court's initiative. The board of judges investigating the case asked the companies to provide additional written clarifications on the lawsuit.

The accident at the plant occurred on August 17, 2009 when a turbine broke apart. Both the turbine hall and the engine room were flooded. Three turbines were destroyed and all the other turbines were damaged. The plant consequently ceased operations.

The accident caused a power outage at the Sayanogorsk and Khakassky aluminum smelters, resulting in multimillion ruble losses for the plants.

The RUSAL Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter sustained a 25 million ruble ($818,725) loss. The smelters filed a lawsuit against RusHydro to compensate for the losses.