OREANDA-NEWS. Specialists of IDGC of Centre were awarded for their hard work and great personal contribution to disaster relief in the Kuban region in January this year. Certificates of merit of a subsidiary of JSC “Russian Grids” - OJSC “Kubanenergo” were received by employees of the branches of Kurskenergo, Belgorodenergo and Voronezhenergo, who participated in the emergency and restoration operations in the south of Russia.

Please, be reminded that in the night of 20 to 21 January the Kuban region was struck with freezing rain led to power supply interruptions in nine districts of the Krasnodar Territory and much of Adygeya. Under the weight of ice wires of poles got broken, thousands of people were without electricity.

Hundreds of employees of the group of companies JSC “Russian Grids” from different regions of the country promptly arrived in areas affected by bad weather to help colleagues. Among them were representatives of the three branches of IDGC of Centre.

Three crews from Kurskenergo and Belgorodenergo and four crews from Voronezhenergo took part in the repair and restoration work, provided with special vehicles. Kursk power engineers worked in Uspensky district of the Krasnodar Territory, and their Belgorod and Voronezh colleagues in Slavyansky and Temryuksky districts. They restored overhead lines and cleared blockages. Despite the uncharacteristically low temperature, sleet, ice and strong winds for the region, the work was being performed around the clock. Primarily social facilities were connected to electricity supply: kindergartens, schools and hospitals.

As a result, the clear and well-coordinated work of IDGC of Centre's specialists helped as soon as possible eliminate the consequences of large-scale freezing rain and provide electricity to consumers in districts of their area of responsibility.

A crew of Lgovsky Distribution Zone of Kurskenergo under the guidance of a master Mikhail Evtushenko performed emergency and repair work in the village of Marino, where more than 2,000 people were without electricity. In just two days, having replaced more than 10 poles and restored a total of about one and a half kilometres of power lines, the power engineers fully restored power supply of the village. “It was tough,” admits Mikhail Evtushenko. “But we knew that people relied on to us, and it gave us strength. People came out of their houses, offered help, and thanked. And when the electricity came back to the village, the biggest reward for us was their happy faces.”

Large amount of work was done by the Voronezh power engineers. They restored 45 poles, repaired 46 overhead lines of 10 kV and 0.4 kV and 4 transformer substations. As part of this work was done more than 36 kilometres of wires and 282 insulators were installed, 331 trees were trimmed, and sagging of 34.29 kilometres was adjusted.

Emergency and repair crews of Belgorodenergo had a task to quickly restore power supply in 16 localities of Slavyansky district, where more than 30,000 people reside. They coped with this problem having restored in a very short time more than 40 power lines of 0.4-10 kV, eliminating about 250 wire breaks and replacing about 50 poles of power lines.

“The power engineers promised to do everything fast - and they kept their word,” says the deputy head of the rural Coastal settlement of Slavyansky district Olga Pechelieva. “Just in a day and a half they completely restored electricity supply in ours and four neighbouring villages, where a total population of more than seven thousand people. For our part we tried to cheer them up with word and deed. I want to sincerely thank Belgorodenergo's specialists, all power engineers, who helped our territory in a difficult moment, for their high professionalism, dedication, responsible attitude, and wish them successful, trouble-free operation!”