Rosseti Tyumen

JSC Rosseti Tyumen is a distribution power grid company. Rosseti Tyumen JSC includes 9 power grid branches:

• Tyumen electric networks
• Energy complex
• Surgut electric networks
• Nizhnevartovsk electric networks
• Northern electric networks
• Urai electric networks
• Nefteyugansk electric networks
• Kogalym electric networks
• November Electric Grids

Digitalization in the energy sector of the Russian Far North

Around the world, the process of digitalization is rapidly underway, the volume of transmitted data is increasing from year to year. Very soon, 5G will become the world standard for cellular communications, the widespread adoption of the associated Internet of Things (IoT) is on the way, which will radically change our daily life. Power also does not remain aloof from global trends: the volume of data, the amount of information collected is increasing many times, the need for high-quality communication channels for its transmission is also increasing. Power, like many vital industries, must also inevitably undergo a transformation in the digital sphere. In the conditions of the Russian Far North, with its low population density, difficult natural conditions, huge distances and equally huge reserves of natural resources, this need is especially acute.

The Rosseti Tyumen company could not stay away from the digitalization trend. The best forces were thrown at the brainstorm in the company, as a result of which a program of digital transformation until 2030 was developed. The basis of the digitalization system is the main communication channels. The construction of fiber optic communication lines (fiber optic lines) allows solving many problems, such as the transfer of telemetry information, telecontrol commands, the transfer of data from meters to data collection centers, the transfer of relay protection commands and emergency control commands, etc. Power grid companies have a great advantage in the form of already built numerous interregional power lines of various voltage classes, which can be used as supports for the suspension of fiber-optic communication lines (fiber optic lines).

The pilot project was launched, which was headed by an experienced engineer and leader Konstantin Konstantinovich Ivanov, and as a result of which the Vols PP North-PS GDN was built and put into operation in a short time. For the first time in the Far North, a project was implemented to install the latest TDM and MINITRANS equipment diagnostics systems, which allow tracking the condition of the most expensive substation equipment - power transformers. These systems contain a fairly large number of sensors that transmit signals to the information complex, which in turn allows specialists to remotely track the mass of parameters and respond in a timely manner to changes in the state of the equipment. The use of such diagnostic systems was previously limited by their great criticality for the quality of the communication infrastructure, in particular the quality of the information transmission channel. The construction of the fiber-optic line made it possible to solve this problem.

Konstantin Konstantinovich Ivanov

During the year, a pilot operation of diagnostic systems was carried out, small shortcomings were identified, timely eliminated by the company's engineers. Now this, already developed technology, will be extended to other substations of the company. Currently, the project constructions"Fiber-optic communication line of the ring structure along the highway" RPB NES - PS Kedr - PS Gubkinskaya - PS Vyngayakhinskaya - PS New Year's - PS Mayak - RDP VRES "with a throughput of 622 Mbps and a length of over 250 kilometers is being implemented, including to replicate the experience gained. The installation of diagnostics and remote control systems will make it possible to repeatedly increase the speed of decision-making and reduce operating costs, which is especially important for highly remote power facilities located in hard-to-reach places with sharp temperature fluctuations.

According to K.K. Ivanov, the idea of ​ ​ further development in the field of digitalization prompted him the experience of more than 20 years of work in the Far North. We are talking about the idea of ​ ​ creating centers (data centers) on the basis of DATA substations for the subsequent placement of information systems in them, owned by both the power grid company and other owners. The main operating costs of DATA centers are spending on indoor air conditioning, and here the cold climate of the Far North can become an ally and a great advantage from the enemy. Equipped with powerful main communication channels, with sufficient high-quality electrical energy, sites located in clean cold areas of the North for the location of DATA centers, according to Mr. Ivanov, are the immediate future of digitalization of power.

The idea of ​ ​ building data centers in northern climatic conditions came to his mind back in 2015, while studying at the Moscow Skolkovo School of Management. Then one of the tasks that the management of the Rosseti company set for its best engineers trained in Moscow was the task of finding new markets, places, industries where energy companies can earn money. The idea presented for the competition by K.K. Ivanov on the construction of data centers in the Far North as places with natural conditioning and cheap affordable electricity did not receive proper support from the company's leaders, including R.N. Berdnikov, First Deputy General Director for Technical Policy, member of the Rosseti Board. But Mr. Ivanov did not give up, continuing to believe that the future was behind it.

Over the next 5 years, from 2015 to 2020, he invariably continued to propose his idea, try to include it in promising plans for the development of the energy company. And so - the long-awaited luck, the construction of the date of the centers, as an opportunity to enter a particularly promising market, finally got into the program of digitalization and development of the company. Thanks to the systematic persistent continuous long-term work of the project initiator, the company's management eventually realized that this idea, visibly put forward in 2015, was confirmed by global trends. Cloud technologies and information storage are the fastest growing segments of the IT sphere in the world, as evidenced by the financial statistics of companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Salesforce. Spending on public cloud services in 2020 amounted to more than $270 billion and continues to grow. In Russia, this market is just beginning to develop and, in the future, can bring a significant amount of revenue increase for energy companies, especially those located in the Far North of the country.

Kirill Lazarev|TAdviser, November 20, 2020