Peretok Light: highlights of the Russian and global power sectors for 11 to 17 February

Peretok Light: highlights of the Russian and global power sectors for 11 to 17 February

The Government Commission has approved the limitation of the regions’ rights to raise network tariffs

The Russian Investment Forum, held in Sochi on February 14-15, became the main event of the past week. However, among power engineers, only Rosseti took an active part in the official program. Pavel Livinsky, the head of the network holding, presented the “Digital Transformation 2030” concept but had no significant news to announce. Rosseti continues to estimate the industry’s digitalization program at about 1.3 trillion rubles, and the company is ready to finance all the activities with its own funds as well as those of different investors. Nevertheless, the representatives of the network sector found quite a number of topics to discuss on the sidelines of the forum: on February 12, it transpired that the authorities were planning to close the legislative loophole that had previously allowed networkers in certain regions to bypass restrictions on their tariff increases.

Shipelov: RT-Invest will launch the construction of an incineration CHP plant in Tatarstan in June-July

During the Sochi forum, RIA Novosti published an interview with Andrey Shipelov, RT-Invest’s General Director. His company won tenders for the construction of five incineration CHP plants; four of them are to be built in the Moscow region, and another one in Tatarstan. The facilities are being built at the expense of wholesale energy market consumers under the PSA (Power Supply Agreement) SHW (Solid Household Waste) program and have few supporters in the energy sector. The week before last, Kommersant wrote about the difficulties RT-Invest faced holding public hearings on the incineration CHP plant project, even the Supreme Court took the side of the Tatar activists, which threatened to delay the implementation of the project. In his interview, the company head stated that the practical implementation of the project in Tatarstan was planned to start in summer 2019.

Vnesheconombank (VEB) intends to provide loans amounting to more than 50 billion rubles to build four incineration CHP plants in the Moscow region

At RIF-2019, it also transpired that Gazprombank and VEB were ready to participate in the financing of the construction of the four incineration CHP plants. VEB intends to invest more than 50 billion rubles in these projects — it makes a third of the total amount of estimated investments in the four incinerators.

SRT company is ready to provide smart meter protocols “on arm’s length basis”

In his interview, Mr. Shipelov also practically confirmed that SRT company (“Modern Radio Technologies”), co-owned by him, claimed the status of a monopoly supplier of data transmission technology in the process of electricity metering system digitization. Earlier, Vedomosti announced that the use of SRT’s data transfer protocol could become mandatory for all electricity smart metering systems (SMSs). This proposal was put forward in the letter, which Alexei Sokolov, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, addressed to the Ministry of Energy. To transfer data from smart meters to the metering system, the Ministry of Communications proposes to use the LPWAN radio technology and the XNB protocol developed by SRT, as, according to the developer company, these technologies are the only ones in Russia that meet the current GOSTs. As Andrey Shipelov implies, the company is going to work with third-party manufacturers “on arm’s length basis”.

Vasilyev: Gazprom is preparing an agreement with Dagestan to curb shadow business

In the energy sector, the investigation into the multi-billion gas theft in the North Caucasus continues to make headlines; consumers in this region are also responsible for more than 65% of all debts on the wholesale electricity market (WEM). The key region in the “Arashukov case” was Dagestan; at the Sochi Forum, the head of the region, Vladimir Vasilyev, announced the upcoming signing of an agreement with Gazprom, which will be instrumental in fighting off fuel theft in the republic.

Deputy General Director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Makhachkala arrested in Dagestan

At the same time, as part of the “Arashukov case”, law enforcement agencies detained another high-ranking manager of the regional Gazprom Mezhregiongaz branch.

RusHydro will erect a memorial sign in honor of the elimination of the Bureya HEPP reservoir blockage

Early last week, the Ministry of Defense reported on the completion of the clearance operation on the Bureya, where the mud volcano that had fallen into the river in December blocked the inflow to the Bureya HEPP reservoir. The Ministry of Defense conducted a special operation at the site of the emergency to make a canal in the natural dam sufficient to restore the inflow. The news turned out to be one of the brightest this week: to commemorate the success of the month-long operation, more than 80 servicemen were awarded by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and more than 300 people received the “Bureya Emergency Relief Operation Participant” medal. RusHydro, which practically didn’t participate in the blockage elimination, decided to be part of the momentous event, having promised to erect a memorial sign at the site of the emergency and open an exposition at the Bureya HEPP.

Between the atom and the wind

In the face of abandoning a number of nuclear projects amid Brexit, the UK is trying to avoid energy shortages while reaching its targets to reduce harmful emissions. So far, gas generation wins the battle between nuclear power plants and renewable energy sources. The arguments put forward by the opponents in support of their positions and the reasons for billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ “coming out for the atom” can be found in the recent Peretok review.


18-02-2019 15:20

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