A production meeting of Deputy Directors General and Chief Engineers from distribution grid companies of JSC IDGC Holding ended on the 5th of February in Svetlogorsk (Kaliningrad Region).

Participants to the three-day meeting chaired by Pavel Okley, Deputy Director General and Technical Director of the Holding, discussed a broad range of issues related to the enhancement of the management system of in distribution grid facilities.

Pavel Okley underlined the importance and urgency of the issues discussed. He pointed out that the system could be managed on a professional and reliable level only if there were a sufficient amount of information, if there were a possibility to analyze it as soon as possible to make an appropriate decision.

Network Control Centers have the same goals. Improving their operation will allow bringing the interaction processes, in terms of day-to-day planning, organizational and process management, to a new quality level, and thereby enhancing reliability of electricity supply to consumers. Chief Engineers of IDGC of the Center, IDGC of the Northwest, IDGC of Siberia, Moscow United Power Grid Company, Tyumenenergo, Yantarenergo, IDGC of the North Caucasus and other subsidiaries and dependent companies (SDCs) of IDGC Holding clearly demonstrated this idea in their reports.

Improvement of the data acquisition and transmission system of the distribution grid system (DGS DATS) plays an essential role in implementing the Technical Rules “On Safety of Power Plants and Grids”. The draft of this Federal Law currently reviewed by the State Duma of the Russian Federation was discussed in the report by Dmitry Koryakin, Head of JSC IDGC Holding’s Department for Operational Process Control.

He paid special attention to the requirements of the Rules with respect to upgrading DGS DATS of 110 kW substations. In particular, the report also elaborated on how in this connection investment programs of SDCs of IDGC Holding would be prepared for years 2010-2014 and going forward.

We are unable to achieve quality improvement in operating grid facilities without deploying satellite communications systems. This was the key idea in the report by Oleg Kuts, Director General of ÎÎÎ STEK.COM, invited to the meeting by the Holding’s management. High data transmission speed, reliable communications, compact and portable equipment: these and many other advantages of satellite telecommunication systems can have a wide range of application in operating power facilities.

The meeting participants also discussed the issue of breakdowns in the distribution grid system. Olga Zuykova, Head of the Directorate for Production Control and Occupational health and safety of JSC IDGC Holding, presented a report on the issue. The participants agreed with the proposed changes to the procedure of investigating process failures that would allow prompt and objective assessment of breakdowns and incidents, including whether decisions made by the management were correct.

In the scope of the meeting in Svetlogorsk, the working group for operational process control development of JSC IDGC Holding summed up its performance in 2009 and reviewed its objectives for the current year. They also discussed the rules for transmitting online information on process failures. Oleg Sukhov, Head of the Emergency Center, Department for Operational Process Control of IDGC Holding, presented a report on the issue. Members of the working group visited the dispatching Center of Yantarenergo and were introduced to its upgrade project.

During the meeting representatives of the technical management of the Holding’s SDCs were able to learn more on the Kaliningrad Region and the specific economy of the Russian exclave. Mikhail Tsikel, Director General of Yantarenergo, expressed his gratitude to the management of IDGC Holding for the decision to hold this event, so important for Russian grid companies, in the Kaliningrad Region. “This has underlined once more the special attention to the development of the utility system in the westernmost region of Russia that has been detached from the mainland country as a result of historic developments”, pointed out the head of the distribution grid facilities of the Region.

In summing up the results, Pavel Okley noted that the discussion of issues instrumental for the development of the electric utility industry and decisions reached by the meeting participants would have an essential impact on the implementation of the key task: enhancing reliability and power supply quality in the Russian Federation.