FGC UES’s new innovative development program: first year results

FGC UES (a part of Rosseti Group) sums up the results of the first year of its program of innovative development up to the year 2020. The company is developing technologies for digital substations, losses reduction, power quality and composite materials improvement, superconductivity enhancement, as well as for power facilities remote management and security.

In 2016, pilot operation of automatic fire extinguishing systems with the use of water mist technology for oil-filled transformers installed at 220-750 kV substations was successfully completed at 220 kV Tula substation. The tests proved that the technology will reduce water consumption up to six times and it will take only a third of extinction time compared to traditional water extinguishing systems.

Pilot operation of the prototype device for portable distributed series compensation for 220 kV transmission lines. The devices modify power line capacity, providing optimal reallocation of power flows between overloaded and under-loaded lines. This can be an alternative to constructing new power lines in dense urban and industrial areas and can also be considered as an effective technical tool for active-adaptive electric networks.

The first Russian pole anchor-angle double-circuit tower US 500-2/14 for 500 kV transmission lines is also completed. The design is highly resistant to mechanical stresses, ice and wind pressure and perfectly operates in emergency modes associated with phase-wire or ground-wire breakdown. Such towers will be installed at a 500 kV line that is being constructed now to provide power to a complex for processing hydrocarbon raw materials in Western Siberia. Double-circuit towers will allow to refuse from cable lines and reduce the capital cost of construction of the 500 kV HVL several times. Design and testing of the double-circuit towers for 500 kV voltage lines was implemented for the first time in 40 years.

Components are subsequently tested for 20 kV DC voltage on the basis of high-temperature superconductivity. They are appropriate to be used in the big cities. This technology will reduce power facilities construction cost and the area needed for it, cut electric loss two or three times and improve urban environment due to the reduction of electromagnetic and thermal influences. The company intends to implement the project before 2020 between 330 kV Centralnaya and 220 kV RP-9 substations in St. Petersburg.

In 2016, FGC UES was not only developing prototypes, but also registered seven objects of intellectual property in Moscow, including four invention patents and three software certificates.