Centralization Guarantees Security
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
RAO UES management guarantees that the Russian power system is less susceptible to power failures than the American system
Russians, who used to live from time to time without lights, water and other benefits of modern civilization, were astonished to watch the power collapse in the wealthy US and Canada. Domestic businessmen and experts started to compare the Russian power system to the American one. They found that the centralized nature of the Russian power system could successfully survive such incidents.
According to the RAO UES CEO Anatoly Chubais, centralization may be both an evil and a boon. "The reliability of the power system depends on advanced pre-emptive automation and relay protection. This automated protection works better if it is tied into a single system." Another advantage of the Russian power system is a single dispatch center. Today it is a RAO UES's subsidiary called "System Operator." The single dispatch makes it possible to replace the deficient capacity with another one, from a different region, to keep the power flows in balance and ensure the stability of general parameters.
Chubais commented on the power failure in the US speaking live to Moscow's Echo Radio Station, by saying the following: "The chain of events is quite comprehensible. At first, they have a serious power deficiency for so far unknown reasons (human factor, lightning strike, fire, equipment failure). As a result, several power networks or a station goes down. The power system has either to supply the power from another source or cut off power for a certain number of consumers."
To analyze the economic and technical background of the power failure in the US, RAO UES set up a special commission. According to the head of UES's press service Tatyana Milyaeva, "based on the available experience, the investigation into such accidents may take no less than 70 days."
However, in Russia such large-scale power disruption is rather unlikely, as the Russian power stations have relay protection, which turns off a failed section. AO MOSENERGO's First Deputy General Director Dmitry Vasiliev spoke live to the same radio station saying that the Soviet and Russian power industry had experienced only one big power failure in the late forties. Since then, there have been no serious power failures thanks to reliable power protection systems. The overloads are immediately reported to the dispatcher, which turns off the failed part of the grid.
Moscow has a very dense power generation system. There are 14 power stations located in the city. However, almost each of them has back-up capacities. "If one line goes down, then the second line is switched on, and we always take care that there is a back-up capacity," Vasiliev said.
Furthermore, RAO UES's management is confident that a basic principle of current reforms is to ensure reliable and faultless operation of the power sector. As a result of reforms, various market participants will compete with each other. The state will allow private investors to generate power but will retain the control over the grid. According to Chubais, a vertical dispatch framework is currently under construction in Russia. RAO UES has already spun off regional dispatches in 40 energos. RAO UES is purposefully separating the dispatches from energos prior to the restructuring.
Angela Sikamova |
