The employees of the branch of IDGC of Volga, PJSC (included in the Rosseti Group) - Orenburgenergo held a round table on the digitalization of electric power facilities.

Discussion of the issues on the energy infrastructure transformation through the introduction of digital technologies was held in the framework of the exhibition “Oil. Gas. Energy 2019” on March 28, 2019 in the Armada business center.

The round table was attended by managers and employees of technical services of the Orenburgenergo branch and enterprises of adjacent electrical grids, representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade of the Orenburg Region, manufacturers of electrical equipment, students and university professors.

 Sergey Lipatkin, Acting Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade of the Orenburg Region, addressed the round table participants. He noted that with the introduction of digital technologies, the logic of the process of managing power grids and the economic model of interaction between the subjects of the energy market will change. Sergey Lipatkin expressed hope that the the energy infrastructure digitalization will become the basis for the development of the economy of the Orenburg region.

Introducing the concept of transforming the energy infrastructure, Deputy Director - Chief Engineer of the Orenburgenergo branch, Mikhail Kuzmin spoke about plans to introduce digital technologies, which include the construction of digital substations, the modernization of secondary systems of existing 35-110 kV substations, the automation of 6-10 kV distribution grids with the creation of digital PDZ. He noted that to reduce the loss and use of data in the calculation and analytical functions, smart metering of electric power is already being implemented today.

University professors and students were interested in the issue of specialists training. - Does it mean that with the introduction of digital technologies in the industry, IT specialists will be required more than electrical engineers? Will the employer's requirements for graduates change? - asked Maxim Fomin, a lecturer at Orenburg State Agrarian University.

Mikhail Kuzmin, Deputy Director and Chief Engineer of the Orenburgenergo branch, noted that electrical engineers in the energy sector will always be required, but the requirements for competencies will change. When conducting interviews and competitions for vacancies in a graduate with additional IT skills, the chance to get a job will be much higher.

Practical solutions for the design and construction of digital grid elements were presented by Alexander Tikhonov, Deputy Sales Director of the RPA of Cheboksary Electric Apparatus Plant, in his report.

Power engineers gave examples of the implementation of digitalization projects for individual facilities and distribution zones in neighboring regions. Timur Timerbulatov, Head of Project Management at BESK Engineering, told about the stages of the Smart Grid project implementation, the results of the operation of the digital PDZ.

At the end of the meeting, participants expressed their opinion on the effects of the introduction of digital technologies: power grid companies expect a significant reduction in costs for the current operation of equipment, as well as improving the quality and reliability of power supply; consumers will see the effect in curbing the growth of tariffs, reducing the cost and time of technological connection to the power grid, the emergence of new consumer services.