The MAIN JOURNAL for POWER GRID SPECIALISTS in RUSSIA
3 - 6 J U N E 2 0 1 9
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spotlight interview
Electric Power Supply
Reliability is Our Top
Priority
In an exclusive interview, Deputy Minister of Energy of the
Russian Federation Andrey CHEREZOV and editorial director
of "ELECTRIC POWER. Transmission and distribution" jour-
nal Ekaterina Guseva dis-
cuss the implementation and
improvement of risk-based
management of facilities
and resources in the Russian
energy companies, broach
the questions of improving
the reliability of energy sys-
tems and districts character-
ized by high-risk of power
supply interruptions, and
examine successful imple-
mentation of projects aimed
at improving reliability. Much
attention is paid to prepara-
tion for the autumn-winter
period and improvement of
the methodology for assess-
ing the entities readiness for
the autumn-winter period.
— Andrey Vladimirovich, cur-
rently the key strategic direction
for the development of the energy
system and the electric grid in
particular is to increase its reli-
ability. At the same time, a certain
balance between technology and
economics is necessary so that
investments in measures ensur-
ing reliability are justifi ed. If it is
possible to imagine in measur-
able terms, what target level of
reliability of the Russian energy
system are we striving for? When
and under what conditions can it
be achieved?
— The balance of technology and
economics is an approach called
risk-based management. This task,
fi rst of all, belongs to the regulator
represented by the Ministry of Ener-
gy for public administration and con-
trol of the industry.
To ensure such a balance, the
Ministry has developed a range of
legal and regulatory instruments that
allows determining the primary tasks
to ensure maximum reliability, using
not the "maximum", but the "opti-
mum" of fi nancial resources.
The purpose of applying risk-
based management is to improve
the control and supervision function,
to optimize the company's internal
resources necessary for maintaining
the level of technical condition and
preventing technical risks.
This is due to the fact that the
condition and reliability of operation
of the main technological equipment
and industry facilities are determined
by the scope and quality of mainte-
nance and repair work performed
during the operation period, as well
as by the amount of fi nancing in the
current period and investments of the
past years in the restoration, recon-
struction and replacement of the key
production assets.
The poorness of such invest-
ments and irrational use of opera-
tional fi nancial resources in Russia
over the past 20-25 years have led
to a signifi cant increase in the share
of equipment that has essentially ex-
ceeded its recommended service life.
Andrey CHEREZOV,
the Deputy Minister of Energy
of the Russian Federation
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This situation contains hidden
risks for the energy system operation
associated with the technical condi-
tion of the main equipment.
However, if the equipment is oper-
ated without deviating from the rated
parameters and the necessary tech-
nical measures are taken, restric-
tions on further equipment operation
can be removed.
To hedge such risks, including the
way of using the successful experi-
ence of large generating and electric
grid companies that developed their
approaches to the production asset
management system, the Ministry
carried out a lot of work to transfer
the industry to the risk-based man-
agement.
Probably the very fi rst step was
the Decree of the Government of
the Russian Federation No. 1401 of
December 19, 2016, which approved
the Methodology for the complex def-
inition of indicators of technical and
economic condition of power genera-
tion facilities, including indicators of
physical wear.
This is the fi rst attempt to digi-
tize the actual technical condition in
order to develop a decision support
system at the next level, to have a
fundamental index – the technical
condition index (TCI), to understand
how it changes, to predict its value in
the future when carrying out a certain
amount of impact.
The methodology for assessing
the technical condition, prepared in
process of developing the Decree
of the Government of the Russian
Fede ration No. 1401 and approved
by the Order of the Ministry of Energy
of Russia No. 676, allowed to avoid
accounting depreciation and to use
data on the actual technical condi-
tion when performing various kinds
of analysis.
For these aims, the TCI index is
used which is a quantitative assess-
ment of the technical condition of
equipment, determined on the basis
of actual data: the presence of vari-
ous types of defects and their devel-
opment.
TCI in essence is a numerical
value with ranges characterizing
a qualitative assessment of the tech-
nical condition – the type of techni-
cal condition and the corresponding
level of technical risk.
The Ministry has prepared new
principles for developing programs
of maintenance and repair and tech-
nical retooling and modernization, in
accordance with which these pro-
grams should take into account the
TCI and the probability and conse-
quences of equipment failure, com-
plex facilities and network nodes.
These principles are established
in the updated Rules for the main-
tenance and repair of electric power
facilities, approved by the Order of
the Ministry of Energy of Russia
No. 1013 and allowing owners to
repair equipment based not on the
schedule but on its technical condi-
tion.
These documents, together with
the Methodological guidelines for
calculating the probability of failure,
approved by the Order of the Min-
istry of Energy of Russia No. 123,
revealed risk zones, identifi ed prior-
ity measures aimed at improving the
reliability of power system, increase
the effi ciency of the use of available
fi nancial resources and perform re-
pairing main equipment according to
the actual technical condition with-
out using the system of planned pre-
ventive maintenance.
This is the balanced approach
between maximum reliability and
economics.
Speaking about the measured
reliability indicator, I can note that
such an indicator exists – there are
reliability indicators used for grid
companies, so-called SAIDI/SAIFI
indicators.
Since 2016, a new system for
assessing the reliability of services
provided by electric grid organiza-
tions was introduced based on an
integrated system for collecting,
transmitting, processing and veri-
fying the authenticity of initial data
used to determine SAIDI and SAIFI
reliability indicators, the purpose of
which is the subsequent establish-
ment of planned values in tariff deci-
sions for grid organizations for each
regulated period based on the Meth-
odological guidelines for calculating
these indicators.
Rather large statistics have al-
ready been accumulated for these
indicators, and it is possible to judge
their dynamics, which is positive.
For example, at the end of 2018,
the average duration of disrupted
electric power supply to consum-
ers (Psaidi) in the Russian Federa-
tion as a whole decreased by 27%
compared to 2017 (from 2.64 hours
to 1.91 hours). The indicator of the
average frequency of interruptions
in the electric energy transmission
to the supply point (Psaifi ) in the
Russian Federation as a whole de-
creased by 8% in 2018 compared to
2017 (from 1.09 to 1.00).
Currently, this is our target, but
not the fi nal point – we are working
with grid companies to improve these
indicators.
— Nowadays, reliability indica-
tors in diff erent regions of Russia
vary. What measures are needed
to "pull up" the most lagging re-
gions under a single standard?
— As for the regional issue, as
I have mentioned earlier, the estab-
lishment of uniform requirements
for ensuring reliability sets this "sin-
gle standard", contributing to the
technological unity and ensuring
the necessary level of reliability. In
separate, so to say, problem regions
where we see the greatest risks of
disrupted electric power supply to
consumers we work in the "manual
mode". The Order of the Ministry
of Energy of Russia approved a list
of energy systems and energy dis-
tricts characterized by a condition
with high risks of supply interrup-
tions, and a list of measures to re-
duce these risks. At the moment, we
have four such regions: Dagestan,
the Crimea, Yakutia, Irkutsk energy
system (Bodaibinsky and Mams-
ko-Chuisky energy districts). The
implementation of the measures is
scheduled until 2022. In Yakutia, all
planned activities have been com-
pleted, the central energy district of
the Yakutsk energy system is syn-
chronized with the UES of Russia.
— A lot of work to improve reli-
ability in regions with high risks of
supply interruptions, including the
ones under your guidance, was
carried out in the Crimea. What
other projects will be implemented
there in the coming years?
— To implement an integrated
project on ensuring reliable energy
supply to the Republic of the Crimea
and Sevastopol, the city with federal
status, the Ministry of Energy of Rus-
sia ensured the implementation of
several important measures. In 2015-
2017, the construction and commis-
sioning of the facilities of the Russian
24th World Energy Congress
Special issue, September 2019
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Federation – the Crimean Peninsula
energy bridge were completed. This
allowed to unite the UNEG of Rus-
sia and the Crimean energy system,
ensure transferring the power up to
800 MW to the Republic of Crimea
and eliminate the consequences of
blackout. In March 2019, Balaklavs-
kaya and Tavricheskaya thermal
power stations (TPS) were put into
operation, which made it possible to
ensure the operation of the stations
at a full design capacity of 940 MW.
The commissioning of two new
power stations led to an increase in
the total capacity of the peninsula till
about 2070 MW (taking into account
the 120 MW Sakskaya TPS), exclud-
ing intermittent wind and solar gen-
eration, as well as mobile gas turbine
power stations. This will ensure full
coverage of the needs of the Crime-
an Peninsula, taking into account the
redundancy, and also, if necessary,
the ability to transfer power to neigh-
boring regions (Krasnodar Territory).
The construction of 330 kV overhead
power line Zapadno-Krymskaya –
Sevastopol was completed, which al-
lowed to provide power from the Sev-
astopolskaya CCGT-TPS to the north
of the Crimean Peninsula, close the
ring of 330 kV backbone overhead
lines and increase the system reli-
ability of the Crimean power system
during repair work and in emergency
modes. In order to ensure the trans-
fer of excess capacity of Rostovs-
kaya nuclear power station (NPS)
to the territory of the Crimean Pen-
insula, as well as to ensure systemic
reliability of the Taman Peninsula,
the construction of 500 kV power
line Rostovskaya NPS – Rostovs-
kaya and 500 kV power line Rostov-
skaya – Andreevskaya – Vyshesteb-
lievskaya (Taman) was performed.
The reconstruction of Sakskaya TPS,
which will give the peninsula’s power
system another 120 MW, is proceed-
ing to completion. The construction of
a new independent gas transmission
system located in the Krasnodar Ter-
ritory and the Republic of the Crimea
has been completed. Measures have
been taken to provide communica-
tion channels for the Republic of the
Crimea using the existing grid infra-
structure and the one under con-
struction with a data transfer system
capacity of 200 Gb/s, which has im-
proved the availability of Internet re-
sources in the Crimea and reduced
the costs of operators and providers
of the Crimea associated with inter-
operator communication.
The fi nal stage of the projects was
the full-scale tests of the Crimean
energy system in an isolated mode,
during which it was confi rmed that
the energy system and generating fa-
cilities can operate in various modes
including isolation from the Unifi ed
Energy System of Russia. These
tests were carried out in a two-day
period from April 23, 2019.
In addition, in March 2019, the
construction of a new power cen-
ter on Taman was completed –
432 MVA, 220 kV Port substation
and 188 km long 220-110-35-10 kV
overhead power lines as part of the
project "Creating a dry cargo area of
the Taman Sea Port". The substation
construction was carried out ahead
of schedule, taking into account the
importance of this energy facility and
its need for the development of the
Taman Peninsula infrastructure, for
ensuring the needs of the transport
and railway crossings of the Crime-
an Bridge.
Currently, measures on techno-
logical connection of the construct-
ed transport infrastructure facilities
(Tavrida highway and the railway
transport passage through the Kerch
Strait) to Krymenergo networks are
being completed.
In accordance with the Scheme
and Program for the Prospective
Development of the Electric Power
Industry of the Republic of Crimea,
it is planned to complete the imple-
mentation of measures to eliminate
the main weak points and strengthen
electric networks until 2023. First of
all, this is a large-scale reconstruc-
tion of the 110 kV transit Sevasto-
pol – Yalta and Yalta – Luchistoe
(about 245 km in total) with the reor-
ganization of connections of transit
substations in the Southern coast of
the Crimea. This will provide high-
quality, reliable power supply to con-
sumers in resort towns and villages
under any operating conditions.
Tavricheskaya TPS — thermal power station in the Crimea. Design capacity of 470 MW
11
— Currently, another major
project aimed at improving the
reliability of power supply in
the Kaliningrad region is being
implemented. Could you tell us
more about it?
— In the Kaliningrad region,
a large-scale investment project on
constructing four power stations,
designed to ensure the region’s
energy independence, as well as
to create a reserve of energy ca-
pacities for the socio-economic
development of the region. Maya-
kovskaya TPS, Talakhovskaya TPS
and Pregolskaya TPS with a total
installed capacity of 771 MW were
put into operation.
Among the main power equip-
ment at these power stations are
gas turbine units, characterized by
high mobility and effi ciency. It is
also important to note that all the
main equipment: gas turbines, gen-
erators, steam boilers and steam
turbines (at Pregolskaya TPS) are
made in Russia. The new TPSs
are also equipped with emergency
automation equipment, systems of
technological information exchange
with the System Operator, record-
ing emergency events and moni-
toring transient modes. An energy
accounting system (Automated in-
formation and measuring system of
commercial energy metering) has
been implemented at each station,
allowing it to operate on the whole-
sale energy and capacity market.
Construction of 195 MW Primor-
skaya TPS is also performed, which
is planned to be completed in the
3rd quarter of 2020.
— The work on improving the
reliability of the energy system of
Russia and its individual regions,
done by this moment, is really
large. However, this process is
continuous and in the future its ef-
fectiveness should be increased,
including through the develop-
ment and implementation of new
legal and regulatory instruments.
What is the Ministry doing in col-
laboration with energy compa-
nies in this direction now?
— Today, the Ministry has devel-
oped a methodological framework
that not only meets global trends,
but is also largely innovative. There
are no such developments on some
issues in the world.
This base is aimed at ensuring
reliable energy supply to consum-
ers and improving tools for monitor-
ing the operation of the industry, the
transition to managing the industry
according to a risk-based approach.
Considerable work has been
done in this direction.
We have improved the procedure
for assessing the readiness of elec-
tric power industry entities to work
in the heating season, which was
approved by the Decree of the Gov-
ernment of the Russian Federation
No. 543 of May 10, 2017, and now
we are continuously monitoring the
activities of energy companies.
Monitoring of the technical con-
dition is carried out together with
the assessment of technical and
economic indicators in accordance
with the requirements of the Decree
of the Government of the Russian
Fede ration No. 140 of December
19, 2016.
One of the main indicators, on
the basis of which physical wear and
winter readiness indices are calcu-
lated, is the Technical condition in-
dex (TCI), calculated according to
methodology approved by the Order
of the Ministry of Energy of Russia
No. 676 of July 26, 2017.
Moreover, new approaches are
constantly being improved. Current-
ly, an innovative methodology is be-
ing supplemented and refi ned.
The technical condition assess-
ment tool has been complemented
with dependent models: on April 4,
the Ministry of Justice of Russia
registered guidelines for calculating
the probability and consequences
of a failure of a functional unit and
a unit of main technological equip-
ment, approved by the Order of the
Ministry of Energy of Russia No. 123
of February 19, 2019.
The methodology is based on
the approach to planning technical
impacts on the main technological
equipment in order to optimize the
composition and cost of such im-
pacts taking into account technical
470 MW Balaklavskaya TPS in Sevastopol
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risk. In other words, correlating the
risks of failure with costs, we get the
basis for a more effi cient distribution
of limited fi nancial resources for op-
timal management of production as-
sets.
In order to hedge the risks of
emergencies and establish com-
mon principles for the technologi-
cal operation of the industry, the
Ministry of Energy continues to up-
date the regulatory framework. As
a part of this work, documents have
already been adopted aimed at es-
tablishing uniform rules for setting
up automation, regulating the ca-
pacities of generation facilities and
testing equipment. This year we
plan to approve documents estab-
lishing general requirements for the
technological design of equipment
and its operation. The unity of ap-
proaches in technological opera-
tion will lead to increased reliability,
lower emergency rate and cost.
14 regulatory acts were approved
and registered at the Ministry of Jus-
tice of Russia, among which such
important acts as the Rules of in-
teraction when performing tasks on
setting up relay protection and auto-
mation, Requirements for the gener-
ating equipment participation in the
general primary frequency regula-
tion, Rules of switching in electrical
installations.
I would like to note that this meth-
odological base is quite new – the
entire industry is now at the stage
of its implementation. Therefore,
some companies still work "by iner-
tia" according to old developments.
However, I want to note that we see
the dynamics in the use of new ap-
proaches, and it is positive.
— What conclusions did the
Ministry draw based on the re-
sults of the 2018/2019 autumn-
winter period (AWP)? What kind
of new tools to improve the ef-
fectiveness of preparing for and
passing through the AWP will be
introduced in the nearest future?
— The AWP is a special time for
both the industry as a whole and the
Ministry of Energy. The reliability of
the operation of the generation facili-
ties and the grid complex, as well as
the coherence of interaction with dis-
patch centers, is our main joint task.
Summing up the results of the last
AWP, it is worth noting that the energy
system of Russia has passed maxi-
mum loads in the normal mode, the
maximum electric power consump-
tion in the UES of Russia in AWP
of 2018/2019 increased by 0.2%,
compared to the AWP of 2017/2018,
and amounted to 151.9 GW. Reli-
able operation of power stations and
the grid complex was ensured, the
necessary reserve of generating ca-
pacities and the capacity of transmis-
sion lines was maintained, and there
were no accidents with signifi cant
consequences. The decrease in the
number of accidents at generation
facilities with a capacity of 25 MW
and above amounted to 9.8%, and
in electric networks with a voltage of
110 kV and above – 5.9%.
Every year we record a decrease
in the number of accidents both at
generating facilities and at electric
grid facilities. Since 2013, this de-
crease amounted to about 26% (at
generation facilities – 27.8%, from
4428 accidents in 2013 to 3281 ac-
cidents in 2018; at electric grid facili-
ties – 25.9%, from 19,866 accidents
in 2013 up to 14 349 accidents in
2018).
Recently, we have improved the
procedure for assessing the readi-
ness of electric power entities to
work in the heating season (the De-
cree of the Government of the Rus-
sian Federation No. 543 of May 10,
2017 ) and now we are continuously
monitoring the activities of energy
companies and monthly publish the
results of such monitoring on the of-
fi cial website of the Ministry of Ener-
gy of Russia.
As a part of the new model imple-
mentation, we avoided the need for
on-site inspections of electric power
industry entities, which allowed us
to focus on the most problematic
issues, and companies to conduct
training more effi ciently.
With the introduction of a new
methodology for assessing the read-
iness for work in the heating season,
the evaluation loop of the Ministry of
Energy of Russia increased from
84 subjects to more than 400 sub-
jects of the electric power industry,
which include more than 900 objects
(450 generation facilities, 400 elec-
tric network facilities, 60 supervisory
control facilities).
Almost all large holdings and
companies, the assessment of
which had previously been carried
out by the commissions of the Min-
istry of Energy of Russia, reached
the main indicators.
The Ministry of Energy of Rus-
sia is developing, processing and
linking together a large volume of
regulatory documentation, so that
many of the acts we have devel-
oped are in one way or another
linked with the methodology for as-
sessing readiness for AWP, which
increases its eff ectiveness and al-
lows to see weak points before the
start of the AWP and specifi cally
infl uence them, that is, to carry out
a preventive impact in order to en-
ter the heating season with the low-
est risks.
Interviewed by Ekaterina GUSEVA
Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Andrey Cherezov and editorial
director of "ELECTRIC POWER. Transmission and distribution" journal Ekaterina
Guseva
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Оригинал статьи: Electric Power Supply Reliability is Our Top Priority
In an exclusive interview, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Andrey CHEREZOV and editorial director of «ELECTRIC POWER. Transmission and distribution» journal Ekaterina Guseva discuss the implementation and improvement of risk-based management of facilities and resources in the Russian energy companies, broach the questions of improving the reliability of energy systems and districts characterized by high-risk of power supply interruptions, and examine successful implementation of projects aimed at improving reliability. Much attention is paid to preparation for the autumn-winter period and improvement of the methodology for assessing the entities readiness for the autumn-winter period.
