FGC UES to Spend 10–12 Million Roubles Annually on Digitalization
PAO ‘Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System’ (FGC UES) spends over 10% of the funding allocated by its investment programme on digitalization. This was reported by the CEO of the company Andrey Murov at the meeting with the Chairman of the Russian Government Dmitry Medvedev.
“The company has been engaged in digitalization for a number of years, this is the current basic essential. If the amount of funds of our investment programme averages 110–115 billion roubles per year, then we spend more than 10% on the so-called digitalization only. And in the next five years we also allocate about 10–12 billion a year for digital projects,” noted Andrey Murov, answering the question about the FGC UES’s progress in the implementation of smart networks.
According to the head of the company, today 100% of FGC UES facilities are equipped with digital metering devices. Projects aimed at developing the digital communication system are being implemented, including in cooperation with Rostelecom, Russia’s largest telecommunication company.
One of the strategic priorities of FGC UES is the Digital Substation project. In April of 2018, the company put into operation the first Russian power facility of ultrahigh voltage class, the 500 kV Tobol substation, where the digital technology complex was implemented to ensure power supply to ZapSibNeftekhim, a petrochemical complex.
“In February–March we commissioned the 500 kV Tobol substation; this is to cover the needs of Sibur. ZapSibNeftekhim, a huge plant, received the newest and first in the country digital ultrahigh voltage substation. All equipment within the substation communicates with one another and is controlled from one centre. And most importantly, optical transformers of current, voltage made in Russia, produced by the Moscow company, were used there for the first time,” said Andrey Murov.
FGC UES is introducing the remote control technology in the main power grid complex. In 2018, this solution will be implemented at 18 substations, with some 100 power facilities to be covered by 2021.
In addition, Andrey Murov spoke about the company’s operating results. Ensuring the uninterrupted power supply to consumers was named the main objective of FGC UES. The company demonstrates sustainable incident reduction: the number of failures was reduced by 41% since 2012, and by 12% during the first seven months of 2018 compared to the same period last year.
Along with the improvement of performance indicators, FGC UES shows strong financial performance. Over the last five years, its revenue grew 1.5-fold to 216 billion roubles, EBITDA by 30% reaching almost 130 billion roubles. Since 2014, FGC UES paid 57 billion roubles in dividends to its shareholders. The amount of payments for the year 2017 will exceed 20 billion roubles, which is one of the best indicators in the industry.
PAO ‘Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System’ is a partner in the organization of the International Forum ‘Russian Energy Week’, which will take place on 3–6 October 2018 in Moscow. The topic of digitalization and the future of the fuel and energy industry received particular attention at REW 2017. REW 2018 will discuss successes and achievements of Russian and foreign companies over the past year.
