OREANDA-NEWS. October 10, 2012. Branch of FGC UES — Upper Don transmission electric grid (Upper Don PMES) and IDGC of Centre — Voronezhenergo division conducted a grid-wide emergency response exercise of operational and dispatching units to eliminate the consequences of emergency situations in the autumn-winter 2012/2013.

During the exercise interaction of cooperating grid companies and executive powers in charge of a reliable power supply to residents of the Voronezh region was practiced. Specialists of Voronezh Transmission Control Centre, Interregional Dispatching Office of Centre, dispatching services of Voronezh CHP-1, Voronezh CHP-2, LLC “Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Voronezh” and General Directorate of EMERCOM of Russia in the Voronezh region took part in it.

According to the scenario in the region two major accidents occurred with a small difference in time. At 10.10 Moscow time on a street in Voronezh the central pipeline got broken, and therefore there was a need to transfer CHP-2 to the backup fuel (fuel oil) and disconnect it from the combine-cycled plant. At 10.40 due to strong winds with gusts of up to 8-15 m/s some ground wire was broken, resulting in interruption of overhead power lines (Conductors) Otrozhka — SKHI # 31 and Otrozhka — SKHI # 32. In connection with these events a significant excess of the load-carrying capacity on 110 kV Latnaya — Podgornoye # 26 was recorded.

The headquarters of the Upper Don PMES led by Chief Engineer Viktor Sinelnokovy developed a plan for the necessary measures to minimize the effects of the accident and to prevent its system development. Firstly information and technology exchange was organized between operational and dispatching units of power grid companies and city services.

At the instruction of the regional supervisory control Office of the System Operator a temporarily schedule of rolling blackouts was put in operation. Experts of Voronezhenergo performed switchings at low-voltage substations.

At that time, experts of the Upper Don PMES conventionally implemented reserve power supply schemes, including 110 kV Latnaya — Podgornoe # 25, which at the start of training was switched off for repair.

Three crews of Voronezhenergo totalling 20 people were involved in the repair work on overhead lines Otrozhka — SKHI # 31 and Otrozhka — SKHI # 32.

At 11.19 MSK the emergency situation was successfully eliminated, normal operation of the Voronezh power system was fully restored, and the schedule of rolling blackouts was over.

Heads of power grid enterprises noted the high professionalism of dispatching staff. As a result of their clear and coherent actions the emergency repair work did not exceed one hour.

“Power engineers constantly work on methods, which reduce the outage time for consumers, — stressed Deputy General Director of IDGC of Centre — Voronezhenergo division director Ivan Kleymenov. — Such trainings will undoubtedly be useful to us in the winter peak load on the power supply. Also, now there is the consolidation of efforts of power distribution and transmission networks to provide high-reliability of the power complex. Therefore, working out joint actions with experts of the Federal Grid Company, undoubtedly, will increase the reliability of power supply to consumers.”

FGC UES (www.fsk-ees.ru) was incorporated in accordance with the program of the power sector reform as a monopoly operator of the Unified National Power Grid in order to preserve and develop it. Transmission facilities of the Federal Grid Company are located in 73 regions of the Russian Federation with a total area of more than 13.6 million square kilometres. The company operates 125.3 thousand km of transmission lines and 856 substations 35-1150 kV with a total installed transformer capacity of more than 322.6 thousand MVA. The company employs more than 23 thousand employees.

MES of Centre, a branch of FGC UES, provides operation and maintenance services of the Unified National Power Grid in Vologda, Tver, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Tula, Kaluga, Ryazan, Orel, Belgorod, Kursk, Tambov, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, Moscow and Moscow region. MES of Centre operates 190 substations of 35-750 kV with a total capacity of 90.3 thousand MVA and 29 593.9 km of transmission lines.