Rosseti and the Republic of Tatarstan have signed a Cooperation Agreement within the scope of implementation of an RF Presidential Order mandating the development of domestic IT. The signing ceremony took place on 30 September at the Sochi Economic Forum. The document was signed by Rosseti PJSC General Director Oleg Budargin and Republican President Rustam Minnikhanov.

The agreement, concluded for a term of five years, assumes cooperation in the area of Russian high-tech, including the development of infrastructure software products capable of storing and managing high volumes of data, as well as the development of secure systems and networks suitable for use within the scope of the Russian power-grid complex for the purposes of improving overall energy security and energy efficiency.

Within the framework of cooperation, particular attention will be paid to the development of technologies for the collection and processing of the data associated with Earth remote sensing (ERS) in order to handle the tasks involved in monitoring extended objects. This would make it faster to identify spots of technological breakdown along power transmission lines – particularly in remote locations, thereby allowing for a reduction in emergency power-restoration work.

The agreement also envisions the development of programs for the continuing education and advanced training of Rosseti Group employees in the IT field.

Cooperation will be implemented in partnership with the residents of the Innopolis Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Kazan.

Tatarstan is one of Rosseti’s longstanding partners in the area of research-and-development and experimental-design work aimed at improving the security and reliability of energy facilities.

After the signing of the agreement, Oleg Budargin noted that “since 2012, Rosseti has been systematically implementing its import-substitution policy. This cooperation represents just the latest step in supporting Russian producers of high-quality equipment and high-tech products.”

The Rosseti chief also underscored the timeliness of the agreement in the context of the crucial importance of reliable energy supply for the daily lives of the population and the operation of industrial enterprises. Rosseti has done a colossal amount of work in terms of creating systems for the data-protection of energy installations with modern security systems, developing and deploying various compensating circuits designed to ensure the reliability of energy supply. That said, there is still an urgent need for the development of new domestic technologies to combat cyber threats over the long term.