Level of digitalization in Belarus’ energy sector over 60%
MINSK, 18 April (BelTA) — The level of digitalization in the energy industry of Belarus exceeds 60%, Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Denis Moroz said as visited the stand of the Energy Ministry at TIBO, BelTA learned from the ministry’s press service.
The deputy minister named the key areas of automation and digitalization technologies in the industry. Among them are the control of electricity networks and the construction of new digital substations. A good example of such a project is the 330kV Mogilev substation. This is the country’s first fully digital substation of this voltage class. This facility has increased the reliability of power supply to the Mogilev power center. Due to the high automation there is no need for permanent presence of personnel at the substation. This significantly reduces the operating and labor costs. All in all, there are 1,400 substations with digitalization elements in the country, six of them are fully digital.
An important area of digitalization is the development of the Smart Grid technology. This technology suggests the formation of the single automated system to monitor and control the operating modes of power lines in real time, including the generation, transmission and consumption of electricity. Smart power grids automatically respond to changes in various parameters and enable uninterrupted power supply with high economic efficiency. Pilot Smart Grid technology projects have been implemented in Borisov, Bobruisk, Liozna, and Pinsk electricity network regions.
«Plans are in place to implement similar projects in other regions,» the deputy minister said.
According to him, modern IT solutions provide an additional opportunity to offer qualitatively new services to consumers. «For example, household electronic electricity meters, which we are now installing, are being integrated with the automated system AMR-life with subsequent integration with the ERIP service and payment system,» Denis Moroz said.
This makes it possible for household consumers to pay for electricity at tariffs differentiated by time periods and to reduce electricity costs. To date, more than 4 million meters have already been replaced with electronic ones. This accounts for 90.6% of their total number.
