Vladimir Shmelev, deputy chief engineer of AlES JSC, has been working in the energy sector for 40 years
Vladimir Shmelev was born in the village. Maysk, Pavlodar region. His grandfather worked as the chief power engineer at a mine that produced special clay for the steel industry. Vladimir lived in this village until he was seven years old. He always liked his grandfather’s tools, but especially pliers.
– This is necessary, the grandfather will cast a spell on the wires with these pliers and light will appear in the barn, in the house, on the street in the yard. Well, what a miracle! And this magic fascinated me so much that I couldn’t resist, pulled out these same eye-catching pliers from my grandfather’s work bag and decided to do magic myself. It was a weekend, July, five in the morning, parents and all the adults were sleeping sweetly. I was five years old. In the garden, from behind the shed, I pulled out a piece of previously hidden aluminum wire, a couple of long nails, and a liter glass jar. Then water was poured into this jar, into which he stuck two nails, wrapping aluminum wires around them using charming pliers. I don’t remember what effect I wanted to achieve then, but having stuck one of the exposed wires into one socket hole, right there in the garden, using pliers with insulated handles, I didn’t find anything surprising. And only when my bare shin accidentally touched a bare wire, some unknown force shook me so much that I found myself lying on the ground, with bulging eyes, not understanding what was wrong with me. The whole body was shaking from an incomprehensible fear. My meticulous scream woke up all the adults at home. Having run to the place of the scream, the entire electrical circuit was immediately destroyed by them. And I had to listen to the reproaches and surprises of adults for several more days. This was my first experience with electricity and my impression of this meeting.
During his school years, Volodya dreamed of serving in the border troops with his trained dog. Therefore, he specially bought an East European Shepherd puppy. He was involved in his upbringing, training, and was a member of the service dog breeding team in Ermak. Uranus, that was the dog’s name, received awards for training and conformation.
– I always liked the military, especially smart officers. I also wanted to become an officer in the future. On passing draft boards, he constantly asked to join the border troops and, as an argument, showed his passport for a service dog. But life decreed otherwise. Although later, I had the opportunity to wear an officer’s uniform for some time and even command first a platoon, and then a company of sappers. He could have stayed and continued to be a military man. But he did not change the decision he made once.
After graduating from high school in the city of Ermak, in the Pavlodar region, Vladimir decided to visit his grandparents in the city of Pavlodar in the summer. Walking around the city, he noticed one of the posters, which displayed calls for young people to enter the Pavlodar Industrial Institute.
– What was written interested me, especially since one of the specialties was listed as “electrical engineer.” And then I remembered my long-ago first acquaintance with the secret forces of electricity. Without thinking for long, I submitted the necessary documents for admission to this educational institution. Having successfully passed the entrance exams, he became a student at the Faculty of Electric Power Plants. Inspiration for the energy industry intensified when writing a diploma project, the topic of which was the reconstruction of the Ermakovskaya State District Power Plant with the development of electrical protection on reed switches.
After graduating from the Pavlodar Industrial Institute, Vladimir came to the Alma-Ata energy system at CHPP-1 as a distribution worker. He remained working in this system until retirement age.
– In 1982, I began my career at CHPP-1 in Alma-Ata as a 4th category electrician repairing electrical equipment. Then he worked as a repairman for high-voltage equipment, a shift supervisor in an electrical workshop, a station shift supervisor, a senior station shift supervisor, a boiler shop supervisor, and a deputy chief engineer. In total, he worked at CHPP-1 until September 1994.
In the same year, Vladimir was transferred from CHPP-1 to deputy head of the Repair Service of the Almatyenergo Department. Two years later he was already working as the head of the service. Then, until 2007, he headed the company’s divisions that dealt with issues of repair, capital construction, and long-term development. At that time, CJSC APK (as the Company was now called) included, in addition to energy sources, city heating networks (today AlTS LLP), as well as city and regional electric networks (today AZhK JSC). With this composition of JSC APK, the main emphasis on capital construction and long-term development was on the design and construction of new high-voltage electrical substations with a voltage of 6/10/35/110/220 kV, as well as the relocation of main heating networks. Only at CHPP-1 in 1996-1997 was turbine unit No. 8, consisting of a turbine and generator, replaced.
Now Vladimir Shmelev works as the head of the Repair Department – Deputy Chief Engineer in the same company, only now it is called AlES JSC and its composition includes only energy sources.
– Our company combines several types of energy sources, including thermal power plants, state district power plants (now CHPP-3), hydroelectric power plants, and boiler houses of the ZTK. I don’t know where else there is such diversity in one Society. What I like most about our company is that any station is a large laboratory in which visible and tangible products are supplied as input – water, fuel, and the output is invisible and intangible products – electricity. Isn’t this a trick?
Vladimir considers his grandfather, a former power engineer, to be his first mentor. And in production he had many mentors at every part of his life’s production path. Starting from the former head of the electrical department at CHPP-1 Nikolai Mikhailovich Sevastyanov, a professional in his field. Vladimir considers Byrlyk Esirkepovich Orazbayev, an outstanding power engineer, whose name was given to CHPP-1, to be a serious mentor. Then Vladimir worked as his deputy, B. Orazbaev was the chief engineer at CHPP-1. Our hero learned a lot of unknown and useful things from him.
– I remember well my first day of work – December 3, 1982. It’s eight o’clock in the morning, still dark. I enter the territory of CHPP-1 and walk along the alley to the office of the head of the electrical department. On the right side, on the tall trees, flocks of crows are conducting their morning “bazaar” very vigorously. “Like a crow croaks loudly,” I thought, and at that moment a small gust of wind blew in my direction from somewhere on the left, there was a meat processing plant behind the fence. This suffocating breeze even brought tears to my eyes and took my breath away. He continued to walk deeper into the station territory under the polyphonic cawing of crows, wincing with wet eyes. Having walked about fifty steps, I jumped in surprise, about a hundred meters away, somewhere ahead, suddenly the loudspeaker hanging on one of the lamp posts turned on at full power. Some kind of classical music poured out of him mournfully. Probably, someone from the communications department decided to cheer up the workers who had come to work and turned up the music louder to drown out the loud cawing of flocks of crows. “Shoo!” – I shouted as loudly as possible towards the birds and shook my fist at them. The birds, through the sluggish but loud music, probably still heard me. I realized this, because immediately something white, dirty and sticky began to fall on me from somewhere above. Well, wow, the first day of work has arrived! And the classics, loudly and mournfully pouring out of the mouth of the “bell,” continued to alarm my young soul. In deep confusion, I finally reached the head of the workshop. “Well, here comes the boss,” I thought with alarm. His name was Nikolai Mikhailovich Sevastyanov and he was probably about 55 years old. “And where did you come to us, so fashionable?” – the boss said quietly. He didn’t even turn his head in my direction, although he was sitting on his throne with his right side facing me. Having come to my senses, I realized what fashionable outfit they were asking me about. I was covered from head to toe in crow waste. It was some kind of sign that I still haven’t been able to figure out. And at that time, only one gloomy thought came into my head – “Where did I end up?”
True, in later life Vladimir understood and was convinced more than once that he had ended up in a wonderful place, and his teachers, including Nikolai Mikhailovich, were wonderful. But that was later. And his first impression remained with him for the rest of his life.
Vladimir quickly became acquainted with the station, since elements of electrical equipment were available in each workshop. He considered and still considers achieving the goal to be the main thing in his work. In his opinion, when a person does something in his life, he should receive pleasure, which arises when some goals set for him are achieved and something comes from it. If a person is indifferent to all this, then he is out of place, he needs to find something to do that he will enjoy.
Vladimir learned to be friends with time a long time ago. He wakes up early, from four to five in the morning. Even on weekends. He tries to get everything done at work during working hours, so he comes to work 1.5 hours before it starts. Vladimir tries to resolve many issues during this time. He doesn’t like to be at work after working hours for no particular reason, because… believes that the body is not as efficient in the evening as in the first half of the day, and you also need to leave something for the family.
His task, as one of the managers, is to ensure that, using his knowledge, experience, official authority and capabilities, the problems of operating energy equipment are solved in the company with minimal problems, and that thermal and electrical energy is uninterruptedly generated. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a well-established working rhythm, try to take certain actions that depend on it in advance, or at least in a timely manner.
– That’s why I’ve been at my workplace since half past seven in the morning. This habit has been developed for a long time. Before 8 a.m. I have time to discuss security issues with dispatchers over the phone and discuss problematic operational issues. Then I discuss these issues with the management of our enterprises, whoever this concerns, as well as with representatives of contractors. We mainly discuss ways to solve problematic issues. I also review and submit for execution emails and purchases that were sent to me after working hours.
At 8 o’clock in the morning, Vladimir Shmelev participates in the daily operational selector. After this, he holds short meetings with the heads of the department’s services, at which unresolved issues and ways to resolve them are discussed. Until the end of the working day, participates in meetings held by management, reviews and signs technical documents, including specifications, tender documentation, certificates of work performed by contractors. Considers all sorts of issues related to the repair, maintenance, and operation of power equipment. This is the daily routine of our hero. Every day with slight deviations. Like everyone else.
Over 40 years of work, Vladimir Shmelev has accumulated many cases that are worth being remembered with respect. One of them was when, at the very beginning of the heating period, the stator winding of generator No. 10 at CHPP-1 burned out.
– At that time, our company worked under the leadership of the Belgian company Tractebel. Belgian experts, including the company’s management, unanimously insist that nothing can be done with this generator. It is urgently necessary to manufacture a new generator in Europe and install it, and throw away the burnt one. And then, together with the specialists from CHPP-1 and the local contractor, we presented proposals to the Belgian management for restoring the burnt out generator as soon as possible. The Belgian side argued that this was impossible, the generator could not be restored. As a result, we convinced the foreign specialists and received the go-ahead to completely rewind the generator. Generator No. 10 of CHPP-1 was quickly restored by local specialists, and for a long time foreigners were amazed at the professionalism of our workers, to whom I was included. Isn’t this pride in our country?
Another event is particularly etched in the memory of our hero. It happened at the Kapshagai hydroelectric station. When carrying out scheduled repairs on a hydraulic unit, it was necessary to remove the anchor from the hydraulic generator. This anchor weighed just over 400 tons. And so it happened that when two overhead cranes were dragging this anchor to a free site, the steel cable of one of the cranes was damaged.
– A huge anchor hung in a skewed position about six meters from the concrete floor. This situation caused a lot of commotion then, especially since there was operating equipment – hydraulic turbines – next to the suspended load. The management of AlES JSC involved me as an organizer to carry out measures to prevent the fall of dangerous cargo with all the consequences. Despite the criticality of the situation, the problem with lowering the anchor was resolved quite quickly, within a week. And this, believe me, is a fairly short period of time, given that we did not have such experience. It was necessary to make special racks, install a special structure in the risk zone, lower a suspended four-hundred-ton anchor onto it, replace damaged ropes of two cranes, and lower the load without incident. Work was carried out around the clock. And the most interesting thing was the attitude of the workers to the work. Both the contractor’s personnel and our own personnel were involved. No complaints about fatigue or lack of sleep. Everyone was focused on one important task – to lower the dangerous load as quickly as possible. And such selflessness in moments of danger is always respectful.
Vladimir Shmelev loves the company’s staff. He notes that if he didn’t like the team, he would have left the company a long time ago. Only in a well-coordinated team can you work fruitfully and with pleasure. Therefore, those who don’t like the team leave.
Thanks to the well-coordinated team, great results were achieved. Vladimir Shmelev never separates himself from the team in which he happened to work. He believes that great things can only be built by a team.
– The very first achievement in my work experience was the construction of a crane beam in an open metal warehouse at CHPP-1. It could not be built for a long time. This created difficulties when unloading and loading metal products stored in the warehouse. At that time I was a young member of the CPSU. Organized several cleanup days. As a result, the necessary foundations were quickly erected, metal structures were welded, T-girders were secured, cable lines were installed and connected, appropriate tests were carried out, and the crane was put into operation for many years. This was in the late 80s of the last century. The event solved many problems.
Vladimir considers another memorable achievement to be the organization of the construction of a new type of ash collection plant – an emulsifier at CHPP-1.
– Due to the increased requirements of environmental authorities for the energy sector, there is a need to search for and introduce into production new methods for purifying flue gases from boiler units. One solution was to introduce emulsifiers instead of scrubbers and venturis. No one had any experience with this activity. The director of CHPP-1 assigned me to deal with this issue. At that time I worked as deputy chief engineer of the station. The work was carried out on boiler No. 11. The most difficult thing was to gouge and dismantle the concrete foundation of the scrubber room. They even wanted to attract specialists – sappers. The concrete was so strong. Still, we overcame it and a new building was erected on this site for cleaning flue gases – an emulsifier. This innovation was the very first one built in the history of the Almaty energy system. Then emulsifiers began to be built at CHPP-2 and CHPP 3.
The creativity that impressed Vladimir Shmelev during his work is also interesting; this is the inscription, which is not washed off and does not disappear over the decades, made on one of the chimneys of CHPP-2 – “Glory to the CPSU.” No matter how much this inscription is painted over or erased, it still appears.
– What an event! Such a great job, from the heart. There were similar masters in the times of ancient man, and the drawings they made on the rocks have stood for thousands of years without being erased. And in our time, it turns out, there are worthy creators.
Vladimir Shmelev wishes to young energy workers that if you are bored at your job, do not want to delve into the bottom of the profession, if you are trying to shift the difficult performance of work to others, then think about whether you are wasting your time in this place. Find something you like and live easily, without heaviness in your soul. But to do this, you need to muster the courage to change something.
And the most valuable advice that was given to our hero at one time was the instruction of the former director of CHPP-1 Viktor Dmitrievich Levin, who once said: “Vladimir, stick to the pipe, and you will not be lost.” And for all 40 years, Vladimir Shmelev stuck to the smokestack in the energy sector, although there were proposals and temptations to leave this path. He still adheres to this advice.
During the Forum, the Chairman of the Board of the Union of Energy Engineers of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Alexander Stepanovich Trofimov, “On the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Ministry of Energy and Electrification of the Kazakh SSR,” was heard. It was noted that the fruitful activities of the Ministry of Energy of the Kazakh SSR, the 60th anniversary of which is celebrated today, should become for young modern leaders a truly worthy example of successful management of the country’s most important energy industry.
Forum participants discussed the energy agenda of the post-Soviet region. The most important challenge for the industry, in their opinion, is the wear and tear of power lines in the Republic of Kazakhstan – it reaches 80%, and equipment up to 60%.
This year, completely new horizons have opened up for me both professionally and athletically. One of the most important events in the professional sphere was my appointment to the position of head of the electrical workshop of the ZTK. This is a big responsibility for me. I am ready for new challenges, I strive to improve the work of the workshop and build effective teamwork.
