Hotline of power engineering specialists:
Belgorod power engineers completed the preparation of the grid complex to the festivities in honour of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, which will be held from July 9 to 12 at Prokhorovka. It is expected that Russian President Vladimir Putin will the visit the commemorations.
The program of the celebration has a religious procession, a solemn meeting and laying flowers to the monument of Victory — the Belfry, honouring veterans, demonstration of banners of units and bodies of troops that participated in the Battle of Prokhorovka, a celebratory concert of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army after A. V. Alexandrov and an air celebration with the participation of the aerobatic team «Russian Knights».
«Our land is rich in tourist attractions, but its main symbol is the Third Battle Field of Russia,» explained Deputy General Director of IDGC of Centre — Belgorodenergo division director Roman Tkachenko. «And here’s the heart of the battle field, and it is certainly the Belfry, the walls of which are carved with the names of seven thousand soldiers who died there. Here, five kilometres from the village of Prokhorovka, the main celebration will take place, and our main task is to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the facilities of events.»
Currently the preparation of the grids to the festivities is complete. The power engineers adjusted the schedule of repairs of power facilities, having cancelled the work performed with equipment outage, developed back-up power supply schemes on the lines of 0.4-10 kV, conducted thermal control, unscheduled inspections and rounds of substation equipment, distribution points and power lines feeding the facilities of the events.
Especially for electric power supply of points and trade missions the power engineers constructed a cable and overhead power line of 0.4 kV with a total length of about 2 kilometres. They increased the capacity of the power transformer of substation № 205 from 40 to 250 kVA, this made it possible to connect to the networks of trade halls and cafes, the number of which will grow significantly during the celebrations. They installed energy-efficient lighting fixtures for outdoor recreation. They laid networks to entertainment sites in the village of Sentry and a martial field camp, where the conditions in which the soldiers lived during the Great Patriotic War will be re-created. 150 young people from a search team will live in the camp for the whole week.
They checked the external lighting in the places of social gatherings and along the main roads of Prokhorovsky district. In the night from 12 to 13 July the exterior lighting will operate without switching off. By July 12 at the Museum «Third Battle Field» and the memorial «Belfry» diesel generators of 100 kW in case of interruption of the main power supply centres will be installed and constant duty of first responding crews of power engineers will be organized. For the period of the festivities the branch will operate in the high alert mode.
Please, be reminded that the largest in the history of World War II tank battle at Prokhorovka was July 12, 1943. It was the culmination of the Battle of Kursk, which subsequently was a turning point in the war. The Supreme Commander was invited to come for the anniversary by veterans in a straight line with Vladimir Putin on April 25. Guests of the festival will also be veterans of the 95th Guards Rifle Division, liberating Prokhorovka.