Grid Control Centre of Belgorodenergo is 5 years in operation!

After the official opening of Grid Control Centre of IDGC of Centre — Belgorodenergo division — the unit that provides control over power equipment and optimal modes of its operation is 5 years old.

Organization of Grid Control Centre in Belgorodenergo began in December 2005 with the implementation of the first stage of non-operating functions. One of the main requirements that determined the adoption of operational functions was the presence of primary and backup direct communication channels with the controlled facilities, organization of transmission of telemetric data between local control centers, Grid Control Centre and substations, as well as training of operators. In Belgorodenergo the implementation of the above requirements began in 2000 after construction of the fiber-optic communication lines throughout the regional area. This formed the basis of the modern process control system over the distribution grid.

May 27, 2007 Grid Control Centre took over the operational management functions of the electric grid in the region. Since then, the newly created structure monitors the electrical grid of 0.4 — 110 kV voltage, providing control of power equipment and power lines. This has reduced the time to eliminate process failures in the electricity system in the region, as well as improved the reliability of the entire electric grid.

April 1, 2008 the operational and technological management was transferred to a two-tier system. Today in two levels of the operational and technological management function in Belgorodenergo: Grid Control Centre controls the grid of 35-110 kV voltage, and the district control centers in District Electric Networks — 10-0,4 kV network. A clear hierarchy of management and information exchange between the layers has been built.

Grid Control Centre is based on modern information systems to monitor real-time status of each substation, see power flow, active and reactive power, and meter energy consumption, perform the automatic reading of meters and control operation modes of street lighting. This is the supervisory control and data acquisition system “SCADA Systel”, automated information-measuring system for monitoring and metering, automated system of commercial metering of electricity, automated control system for street lighting, system monitoring and control of vehicles “AutoTracker”, video surveillance system over electric grid facilities.

With these tools operators of Grid Control Centre monitor the level of loading transformers, analyze power quality parameters, current data on consumption and voltage at the consumer, restrict non-payers and coordinate the work of operational and maintenance crews eliminating faults in the field.

In 2010-2011 a pilot project has been performed in Belgorodenergo to implement Distribution Management System/Outage Management System to manage the grid and eliminate faults (OMS/DMS), which uses the experience of leading companies to equip their control centers with operational and management tools. Since July 2011 the system has been set to its trial operation. Its further development is planned for 2012-2013.

Grid Control Centre includes operational and technological department and electric operation modes department. In order to improve staff skills regular competitions of operators are held in Belgorodenergo, actions in emergency situations and switching sequences of electrical equipment are constantly practiced. All this guarantees the reliability of the electric grid in the region and uninterrupted electricity supply to consumers.