Hotline of power engineering specialists:
IDGC of Centre - Voronezhenergo division has completed preparations to operate through the stormy season in 2016. In order to ensure reliable and continuous operation of grids during severe weather conditions, the power company implemented a set of measures to prevent and minimize technological violations at electric grid facilities.
Voronezhenergo’s specialists checked the presence of executive grounding schemes, lightning protection and overvoltage protection at 35-110 kV substations. They tested lightning protection and grounding devices of electric grid facilities, cleaned transmission line insulators in areas of high pollution, checked voltage limiters and surge arresters for compliance with regulatory and technical documentation. They checked the emergency reserve for the availability of equipment, the most damaged in a storm period, held repeated briefings of first responding, operational and maintenance and repair personnel for actions in a thunderstorm and emergency response trainings of first responding and operational and maintenance staff to locate faults of power lines, as well as elimination of power supply interruptions of consumers.
At all 35-110 kV substations they conducted engineering inspections. Particular attention is paid to the state of lightning protection, free standing and portal lightning rods, as well as their grounding.
Extraordinary inspections were held at 35-110 kV overhead lines, where the largest number of outages due to storm activity was recorded in the past year. If necessary, experts of IDGC of Centre - Voronezhenergo division perform activities to improve the reliability of their work (replacement of damaged insulators, restoration of damaged ground wire, etc.).
"In the stormy period, which usually lasts from May to September, the electric grid facilities experience increased load associated with growing storm activity in the region. Each year, about 6 percent of the total technological disturbances occur precisely because of atmospheric overvoltage. Timely preparation of the electric grid facilities to the storm season has become an annual and integral practice in the work of Voronezh power engineers," said Deputy Chief Engineer for Operation - Head of the Production Asset Management Centre of IDGC of Centre - Voronezhenergo division Alexey Burkov.