The General Inspectorate of the Regional Agency Tsentrenergotekhnadzor has issued a readainess certificate to AO MOSENERGO. This document attests to the high degree of the company's preparedness for the winter season. On the same day, readiness certificates were issued to each of 61 AO MOSEENRGO's divisions. The ceremony of the certificates distribution was held at AO MOSENERGO's Power Technicians Hall. The ceremony was attended by Arkady Yevstafyev, general director of AO MOSENERGO, Igor Goryunov, chief engineer, directors of AO MOSENERGO's divisions, representatives from RAO UES, Tsentrenergotekhnadzor, Gostekhnadzor and other regulatory agencies.

The issuance of readiness certificates is a landmark event for the company, Igor Goryunov, chief engineer, said. This confirms that the whole regional power system, including equipment at all divisions, fully meet all technical requirements for winter operations. To achieve this, the company had to thoroughly check and conduct maintenance works on all power facilities.

Traditionally, AO MOSENERGO and its divisions have received readiness certificates within established deadlines. This year, the comapny has completed the required equipment repairs at power stations, electric and heating grids and accumulated necessary fuel stocks to operate in winter period. As of October 1, fuel reserves at power stations exceeded requirements set by RAO UES, Moscow and Moscow region governments for all types of fuel stocks. Coal stocks exceeded requirements by 35%, fuel oil stocks - by 2%.

AO MOSENERGO's heating and mechanical equipment has been fully prepared for winter operation. Since the start of the year, AO MOSENERGO repaired 14 power units, 24 turbine generators and 2 hydro turbines, 20 boilers and 23 power boilers. Another boiler will be repaired by mid-December.

The repair of electric equipment was carried out on time, without any delays. The company has fulfilled the nine-month plan for repairing generators, transformers and 110-500 kV switches. The company is ahead of the schedule repairing bellows, air and oil switches, air compressors, aerial and cable lines, as well as distribution and transformer substations.

In 2002, Heating Grids of AO MOSENERGO replaced more than 75 km of heating grids, which is 108% of the planned volume. By the beginning of the heating season, the company had eliminated all pipe damages (around 5 thousand) and carried out all hydraulic and temperature tests on all grid pipelines. During the repair campaign, the Heating Grids performed the repair of all heating pump stations and built two new pump stations.

Quite important, this year the readiness certificate was issued to Kashia power station. The specialists working at this AO MOSENERGO's division did their best to restore the operation reliability of the station's units after power unit No. 3 was seriously damaged in early October. The power station met necessary requirements to get prepared for winter season. As a result, the special commission decided that the power station is prepared for the winter season.

To receive readiness certifcates, all Russian power utilities have to annually undergo the special certification procedures in accordance with a RAO UES order. The technical condition and staff qualifications are assessed by a certification commission which consists of experts from RAO UES, Tsentrenergotekhnadzor, AO MOSENERGO, and Inter-System Electric Grids (MES). This year, the Moscow power system was checked from mid-September to late October. The commission assessed the reliability and efficiency of the equipment to be used in winter, the technical condition of of heating and high-voltage cable grids, as well as the personnel's ability to operate in emergencies that might take place in winter time.The commission set special requirements for dispatch operation, technical and professional preparedness of production services.

In addition to RAO UES's order which stipulates that each power utility must receive a readiness certificate, AO MOSENERGO issued a special order "On preparing AO MOSENERGO's divisions for the winter period." In accordance with this order, a special commission was set up to include production and repair specialists, automated heating equipment and repair specialists, the central safety service specialists, fuel and transportaion service represenatives, etc. This commission checks the preparedness of AO MOSENERGO's divisions for winter. Readiness certificates are issued also to transportation divisions, IT departments, etc. By establishing such strict requirements AO MOSENERGO ensures that the company is properly prepared for the heating season and helps to avoid serious failures.

In 2002, AO MOSENERGO has ensured that the power system is well prepared for reliable operation during the heating season.