Hotline of power engineering specialists:
IDGC of Centre – Belgorodenergo division summed up the autumn-winter operation period of 2016-2017. Despite the difficult weather conditions, frequent cyclones, the time of interruptions in the electricity supply of consumers, compared to last year, decreased by 25% (to 57.5 minutes), the average time of elimination of faults in grids - by 28%, amounting to 1 hour 8 minutes.
The winter of 2016-2017 in the territory of the Belgorod region began earlier than usual. Frosts, cyclones, accompanied by strong wind and heavy rainfall, kept the power engineers in suspense from the beginning of October until 19 April, when the region was suddenly struck with snow. During the autumn-winter period Belgorodenergo three times introduced the mode of increased readiness, twice - the special mode of operation, providing for special control over the operation of power facilities. Thanks to the good preparation and timely mobilization of forces and resources of the operating and repair personnel, the situation was always under control. Mass outages of electricity in the region were not recorded.
According to Alexey Botvinyev, Deputy Head of the Housing and Utilities Department of the Belgorod region, head of the office for development of the fuel and energy complex, despite the snowy and cold winter, the Belgorod power engineers coped with their task of providing reliable power supply to consumers. "I want to note that for the whole period we gathered three times within the framework of the regional crisis management centre for ensuring the security of energy supply, but all meetings were planned. Emergency questions for energy specialists this autumn and winter did not arise," explained Deputy Head of the Housing and Utilities Department. "All the preparatory measures were implemented on time and at a good level. And the measures that were taken to ensure reliable power supply and eliminate the effects of weather events, in my opinion, deserve the highest appreciation. Because it’s extremely difficult to work at night, in frost and in a snowstorm, with strong squally wind."
The power grid complex had a serious test of the strength right after the New Year holidays. From 9 January to 12 January in the east of the region there was a sharp temperature transition from plus to minus, the wind increased to 17-20 m/s, wet snow began to flow. Frost deposits up to 5-8 cm thick began to form on lines. Wire breaks and, as a result, disturbances in the operation of the lines and transformer substations appeared. People and equipment from other regions were sent to help power engineers in Alexeevsky, Valuisky, Veidelevsky, Volokonovsky and Krasnensky districts. Crews round the clock examined the lines, removed the stuck snow and ice, eliminated outages. Development of the emergency situation was avoided.
The next cyclone did not take long to arrive and came to Belgorodsky, Shebekinsky and Starooskolsky districts on 25-26 January. Massive power outages were not recorded due to the emergency transfer of additional crews and diesel generators.
Sergey Demidov, Deputy General Director of IDGC of Centre – Belgorodenergo division director, noted that the completion of the calendar period of the autumn-winter operation (15 April) this year probably did not coincide for the first time with the actual one. On the night of 18 to 19 April, heavy snow and northeasterly winds with gusts up to 16-17 m/s caused snow sticking on wires up to 2 cm in thickness and local outages in Belgorodsky and Shebkinsky districts. However, the situation quickly stabilized, by 06:00 p.m. on 19 April the electricity supply was completely restored. "In the event of cyclones approaching, noticeable weather deterioration, temperature lows threatening the reliable operation of grids, we immediately take measures to consolidate forces and facilities and bring them to full readiness for emergency restoration," he explained. "Recently, the practice of an emergency transfer of mobile crews from one point of the region to another has proved to be very positive. This allows in a few hours to take the situation under control and prevent the transition of local outages into mass ones."
Since 1 April, Belgorodenergo has begun preparations for the next autumn-winter period. Now in the branch there is a special commission that checks the personnel, its staffing with overalls, transport, equipment, materials and means of protection. All 390 crews of the branch have already been checked. On 1 May, the season of mass repair work starts.
This year, 258.6 million rubles will be spent on the repair program. It is planned to repair 2,272 km of power lines of 0.4-110 kV, 797 substations, 451 power transformers of 6-10 kV, to clear 465.4 ha of ROWs along power lines.
The investment program of 2017 is planned in the amount of 2.971 billion rubles (development with VAT), of which about 2 billion will be spent on reliability. The branch will construct 628 km of 0.4-110 kV power lines and commission 126 MVA of new capacity. Major projects of the year will be the comprehensive modernization of the 110 kV Sheino in Korochansky district, the completion of the reconstruction and the commissioning of 35-110 kV substations "Pushkarnaya" in Stary Oskol, "Malinovka" in Rakityansky district, and "Belyanka" in Shebekinsky district. In order to increase the reliability of power supply in Shebekinsky district, it is planned to reconstruct four high-voltage substations ("Shebekino", "Murom", "New Tavolzhanka" and "Cheremoshnoye") and complete the construction of the 35 kV cable line "Murom-Novaya Tavolzhanka".
The program of technical re-equipment and reconstruction of worn-out and end-of-life grids will be increased by 60% this year, in monetary terms it will amount to 733 million rubles. Complex modernization of grid infrastructure will be performed in 35 settlements of 16 districts of the region. In towns, villages and small villages, the branch will reconstruct a total of 256 km of 0.4-10 kV power lines, install 93 new transformer substations.
The fulfillment of all the planned scope will provide reliable and high-quality power supply to consumers in the autumn-winter period of 2017-2018.
