The Commission for Operational and Technological Coordination of the Joint Work of the Energy Systems of the CIS and Baltic Countries Proposed to Extend Fedor Opadchiy's Authority as Chairman of the COTC until 2024

On September 14 in Moscow, at the 41st meeting of the Commission for operational and technological coordination of the joint work of the energy systems of the CIS and Baltic countries (COTC), its members proposed to the Coordinating Council of the CIS EPC to appoint the Chairman of the Board Fedor Opadchy as Chairman of the Commission for 2022–2024.

Fedor Opadchy has been in this position since June 30, 2021. The nomination was made due to the expiration of the term of office in 2022.

Head of the Service for the Implementation of Emergency and Regime Automation

SO UES JSC, head of the COTC working groups "Frequency and power control" and "Emergency control" Evgeny Satsuk acquainted the participants of the meeting with the results of monitoring and analysis of the quality of frequency control and active power flows during emergency shutdowns in the power systems of the CIS countries, the Baltic States and Georgia. He also presented for approval at the meeting of the COTC a draft Methodology for determining and distributing the volume of active power reserves for the purpose of regulating the frequency and active power flows.

Based on the results of the discussion, the members of the COTC decided to agree on the submitted document and instruct the Chairman of the COTC, Fedor Opadchy, to submit it for consideration by the CIS Electric Power Council. Also, within the framework of this issue, the COTC members approved new values for the frequency control parameters and active power flows, the required values of the primary and secondary control reserves, updated due to a change in the composition of the synchronous zone.

In continuation of the meeting, Evgeny Satsuk spoke about the progress of work on updating the "General Provisions on the System of Emergency Automation of the UES / UES Power Connection".

The participants of the meeting decided to approve the updated draft of the general provisions and submit it for final approval by the COTC after the approval of the new interstate standard 34045 “Electric power systems. Operational dispatch control. Automatic emergency control of power system modes. Emergency automatics of power systems. Norms and requirements". Currently, a version of GOST has been released, revised according to the comments received as a result of public discussion. This version is submitted for voting. GOST approval by the Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification of the CIS is planned for early next year.

Separately, it was noted that updating the “Technical requirements for automatic elimination of asynchronous modes in the UPS / IPS power interconnection” is currently inappropriate, since the draft General Provisions and GOST 34045 contain provisions that duplicate the provisions of the “Technical requirements for automatic elimination of asynchronous modes in the UPS / IPS power interconnection ". COTC members proposed to exclude this activity from the COTC Work Plan for 2022-2023.

Yevgeny Satsuk also informed the audience about the progress in developing the basic principles for organizing a system for monitoring stability reserves in the states participating in the parallel work.

At the meeting, COTC members reviewed information on the impact of RES generation on the operation modes of power systems of power interconnection of the CIS and Baltic countries, exchanged information on the work on interfacing centralized emergency control systems in adjacent power systems, and also discussed issues that arose in the process of developing maps of energy systems of states participants in parallel work.

The members of the COTC also discussed the preparation of the power systems of the states participating in the parallel work for the autumn-winter period of 2022/2023. Alexander Bondarenko, Advisor to the Director for Management of UPS Modes of SO UPS JSC, spoke about the preparation of the UPS of Russia. He noted that according to the results of eight months of this year, the growth in electricity consumption in the Unified Power System amounted to 2.0%. The predicted increase in electricity consumption from October 2022 to March 2023 is 2.7% compared to the previous period of the autumn-winter maximum load. Alexander Bondarenko also reported on the main actual and expected commissioning of new generating and power grid equipment by the end of 2022, spoke about the implementation of a pilot project to manage retail consumer demand and work to develop the regulatory and technical base in the electric power industry.

A separate part of the report of the representative of the System Operator was devoted to changes in the system of long-term planning in the electric power industry. He familiarized those present with the new functionality of the System Operator and the peculiarities of the company's interaction with federal and regional authorities, industry entities in the development of a general scheme for the location of electric power facilities and the Scheme and Program for the Development of Electric Power Systems (EPS UPS) for the medium term.

Speaking about the priority areas of industry digitalization, Alexander Bondarenko emphasized that SO UPS JSC pays special attention to the implementation of stability margin monitoring systems (SMMS) designed to determine the allowable active power flows in controlled sections in real time. He presented the main advantages of using the technology and spoke about the dynamics of its implementation in the UPS of Russia. Thus, by the end of 2025, the number of controlled sections equipped with SMMS will more than double - from the current 170 to 403, and the number of dispatch centers using the new technology will grow by one and a half times - from 24 to 37.

The COTC members agreed to amend the Commission’s work plan for 2022–2023, updated the composition of the Commission, and approved the updated composition of the permanent working groups “Planning and Control”, “Frequency and Power Control” and “Emergency Control”. In accordance with the instructions of the CIS EPC, the work plan of the COTC includes the study of world experience and methods used in the energy systems of the CIS countries for forecasting electricity generation at renewable energy facilities.

A total of 12 issues were considered at the meeting. The 41st meeting of the COTC was attended by representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, as well as the Coordinating Dispatch Center of the Energy Systems of Central Asia "Energy" and the Executive Committee of the CIS Electric Power Council. The next, 42nd meeting of the Commission for operational and technological coordination of the joint work of the energy systems of the CIS and Baltic countries will be held in March 2023 in absentia format.

On September 15, as part of the business visit program, the meeting participants will visit the new building of the System Operator's dispatch center, get acquainted with modern digital technologies used in operational dispatch control, and at the Simulator Training Center - with the basic principles of training and advanced training of dispatchers.

About the Coordinating Council and COTC

The Coordinating Council is a permanent working body of the CIS Electric Power Council. Created by the Decision of the 58th meeting of the CIS Electric Power Council dated June 30, 2021. Chairman of the Coordinating Council - Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Pavel Snikkars.

It consists of deputy heads of national executive authorities for power industry management.

The Commission for Operational and Technological Coordination of the Joint Work of the Power Systems of the CIS and Baltic States (COTC) is a working body formed by the CIS Electric Power Council. The main tasks are to agree on the principles of managing the modes of joint operation of the energy systems of the CIS and Baltic countries, organizing the development of technical documents, analyzing operational and technological management, coordinating training programs for operational personnel and coordinating the interaction of energy systems of the CIS and Baltic countries in the preparation and implementation of joint work. COTC members are authorized representatives of system operators and power grid companies of the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine.