TGC-1 discussed the readiness of its power plants to the flood water passage

On 5 March 2019, a meeting of the Commission for Prevention and Elimination of Emergencies and Fire Safety of TGC-1 was held at the Administration.

Chief engineers of TGC-1's departments and branches, representatives of Chief Directorate of the MES for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, the Northwest Weather Control and Environmental Monitoring Service, as well as the company's management participated in the meeting. It was focused on the readiness of HPPs and CHPPs to pass flood waters during the snow and ice-melting period, as well as on prevention of the possible negative consequences.

“Heavy snowfall has formed significant accumulation of snow in separate areas. This, depending on the climate conditions of the spring flood progression, can lead to a serious rise in water levels. Since January 2019, we've been evacuating water from lakes and water-storage basins to the extent of the obligatory pre-flood evacuation,” said Aleksey Vorobyev, Chief Engineer of TGC-1. “Our task is to perform the work so that all the plants and hydraulic structures are prepared for any spring flood scenario.”

Marina Bogdan, Head of the Division for Hydrological and Marine Forecasts of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, named specifics of the hydrometeorological situation in Leningrad Oblast and the Republic of Karelia:

“The spring flood is expected to come early and will be continuous. Its peaks are expected in Leningrad Oblast in the first ten–twenty days of April. At Karelia's rivers, it is expected in the second half of April or the beginning of May. If significant precipitation occurs during the spring flood peaks or flood decline, the water levels may be higher than expected.”

The energy industry specialists are currently monitoring the condition of hydraulic structures. TGC-1 has determined the procedure for communicating with the flood commissions of municipal entities and the territorial units of EMERCOM. The company continuously checks the warning systems and conducts appropriate trainings.

Reference

TGC-1 is a leading producer and supplier of electricity and heat in the North-West of Russia. TGC-1 comprises 53 power plants within four constituent entities of the Russian Federation: St. Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia, and Leningrad and Murmansk Oblasts.

Meetings of the Commission for Prevention and Elimination of Emergencies and Fire Safety have been held upon the initiative of TGC-1 since 2010. They allow to coordinate the activities of all the services, responsible for preventing the negative consequences of floods and fires.

In 2019, the number of participants involved representatives of the territorial units of EMERCOM, the St. Petersburg State Hydrometeorological Service, and chief engineers of HPPs and CHPPs of St. Petersburg, Republic of Karelia, Murmansk Oblast and Leningrad Oblast. Communication of different agencies is one of the key factors to control the flood situation. Still, the key focus of energy industry workers is to provide safe and incident-free operation of hydraulic structures and power plants during the flood season, and to make the best use of hydropower resources of the region.