JSC ĞROSSETIğ has partnered with the Rostec State Corporation and approved a plan for a joint project to create an Integrated Competence Centre for Producing and Supplying Import Substituting Equipment in the state corporation's facilities. This will ensure that consumers are supplied with the latest generation equipment made right here in Russia, which will improve the quality of the power supply and facilitate the sustainable development of the Russian economy as a whole. The order to approve the Road Map for the joint project was signed on August 20.

"Today, up to 50% of the equipment used by JSC ĞROSSETIğ is being imported. Due to the current situation, it is necessary to re-evaluate these dynamics," noted JSC ĞROSSETIğ's First Deputy General Director Dan Belenkiy. "ROSSETI will be able to use Rostec's capabilities while technically upgrading and re-engineering the major components of the electrical infrastructure as well as the electrical network and telecommunications equipment. Using the corporation's equipment will allow us to improve the quality and reliability of the power supply to our consumers."

The road map includes a whole host of measures which will allow the companies to create a Competence Centre for Producing and Supplying Import Substituting Equipment in the state corporation's facilities.

The First Deputy General Director of the Rostec Corporation Vladimir Artyakov noted, "Creating the Competence Centre for Producing and Supplying Electrical Equipment will allow us to fully utilise the capabilities of Rostec facilities in this area. Russian companies will receive the opportunity to fund research and development projects which will elevate the entire sector to a whole new level. Ensuring import substitution in the power supply sector is a strategically important task which is the foundation for the sustainable development of the entire Russian economy."

Plans include signing long-term agreements for the supply of domestic import substituting equipment. The state corporation and JSC ĞROSSETIğ will create a joint task force to organise the creation of the Integrated Competence Centre using Rostec facilities. The task force will decide the equipment whose production and supply will be transferred to the competence centre.

Research and development areas will be determined in accordance with the goals of import substitution. These areas of R&D will then be included into the federal target program "Research and development in high-priority areas to develop Russia's science and technology sector for 2014-2020".

This strategy is being implemented as part of the agreement which was signed by Rostec and JSC ĞROSSETIğ on December 16, 2013. Under the agreement, the parties intend to undertake joint projects in the areas of IT and communications; situation, operative and technological management while also developing and producing modern high-tech import-substituting equipment. Discussions particularly touched on projects pertaining to implementing innovative equipment, modern electrical equipment, partnering to develop systems for diagnosing and monitoring technological equipment and energy saving technologies.

In Brief

JSC ĞROSSETIğ and Rostec have successfully partnered before. In October of 2013, a complex of software and hardware tools to manage the city's power supply was put into commercial operation in Sochi; this system has no equals anywhere else in Russia. In July of 2013, the Russian Telecom Equipment Company, part of Rostec, demonstrated the features of the Complex Automated Safety Management System (CASMS) used for Sochi's power facilities. The Rio 2016 Organising Committee is reviewing the possibility of using the CASMS in their preparations for the Olympics in Brazil.