LET THERE BE LIGHT! ALMATY POWER ENGINEERS HAVE CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED THEIR READINESS FOR WINTER PEAK LOADS
A press tour of the facilities of the energy complex of Almaty enterprises of Samruk-Energo JSC was organized especially for journalists. The organizers of the event tried to show the entire cycle from production to transportation, distribution and redistribution of energy in Almaty.
The central control room is responsible for managing the operating mode of the Almaty energy hub. It is a think tank that provides electricity to the largest city in Kazakhstan and the surrounding areas. It is from here that the coordinated work of power grids with energy sources takes place. Thanks to the implemented modernization program, the control room is equipped with new equipment that allows you to work remotely. The management and control of the received data is carried out by experienced dispatchers around the clock without holidays and weekends. According to Boris Babentsov, head of the operational dispatch department of JSC AZHK, the most difficult mode of operation is considered to be winter, and preparation for carrying maximum loads at this time throughout the summer.
– In the summer, the stations prepare their equipment, and we prepare our networks so that the maximum load from the station can be missed. For example, CHP-2 carries a load of about 180 MW in summer, 352 MW today, but this is not the maximum yet, when the cold weather comes, it can rise to 400 MW. The summer maximum reaches 800-850 MW, and the expected winter maximum is 1550 MW,” Boris Babentsov noted
He stressed that the Almaty energy system is the largest in Kazakhstan. And thanks to timely preparation for peak loads, it is safe to say that now the available opportunities allow you to skip any amount of electricity required by the consumer without restrictions.
According to Valery Li, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Energo JSC, all subsidiaries of the joint-stock company are fully ready for winter. The necessary procedures have been followed in accordance with the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Before the start of the heating season, all subordinate organizations received the appropriate readiness certificates. He added that Almaty residents should not worry about heating and lighting in winter, as enterprises providing heat and light have carefully prepared for the current heating season. Valery Li did not delve into the figures, noting that in general, dozens of boilers and thousands of kilometers of electricity and heat supply lines were repaired before winter.
When asked by journalists where such confidence in the uninterrupted supply of energy came from, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Energo JSC replied that if he had been asked about this in 2004, he probably would have found it difficult to answer. However, since that time there have been many changes for the better.
– If earlier fires at substations and power outages were the norm, then the current situation has radically changed. Now a whole chain of substations has been built around Almaty. We have a map of electricity supplies, on which the deficit is marked in red, and the surplus is green. In the coming days, the entire map around Almaty will be green,” Valery Li noted.
Stressing that this will be possible thanks to the creation of an energy ring of supporting substations around the largest city in Kazakhstan. The Ermensai substation is one of the facilities providing electricity to Almaty, it feeds the southern part of the city. A current of 220 thousand volts comes here. The task of the substation is to transfer the received power along the lines further, distribute and send electricity to substations of lower capacity, as well as to local transformer substations, from where electricity enters each apartment. The ring of the energy system is necessary so that in the event of an accident or other emergency situation in the city there will be no power outages.
Alatau Zharyk Companyasy is engaged in the distribution and transmission of electricity, which comes from the company Almaty Electric Power Plants JSC, which includes power plants CHP-1, -2, -3, Kapchagai HPP, cascade HPP and the western thermal complex. The capacities of these power plants provide the city of Almaty by 70-80 percent. The other part of the electricity is supplied from the Moynak HPP and Zhambyl GRES.
In Kazakhstan, almost 80 percent of electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants. However, in order to maintain a balance between price and ecology, and even more so if the issue concerns the city of Almaty, Samruk-Energo decided to modernize production at urban thermal power plants.
– We have a whole program to increase the capacity at CHP-2 and reduce the load at CHP-1. At this stage, a heat pipeline has been installed between these two CHP plants, and in the future it is planned to install a gas turbine unit with heat recovery boilers at CHP-1, which will run on gas. Thus, it is planned to balance the interests of consumers with cheap electricity, and on the other hand, to improve the environment in the center of Almaty,” said Valery Li, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Energo JSC.
Ruslan ESKENDIR.