Big Network Renovation: DTEK Donetsk Grids improved power supply for more than 100,000 households

Thermal power generation22 December 2021

DTEK Donetsk Grids reconstructed several large facilities across the Donetsk region in 2021. These are 110 kV Bakhmutskaya, 110 kV Dimitrovo, 110 kV Krasnoarmeyskaya substations, high and medium-low voltage overhead lines in Kramatorskiy, Mariupol, Pokrovskiy districts, and several other assets. Thus, the company improved power supply for more than 100,000 households, including hospitals, schools, and kindergartens. Such large-scale projects became possible thanks to the investment stimulating RAB tariffs, introduced in 2021.

Big Network Renovation: DTEK Donetsk Grids improved power supply for more than 100,000 households

In 2021, within the Big Network Renovation program, DTEK Donetsk Grids reconstructed and modernized 14 substations, 3 high-voltage lines, more than 30 overhead and cable lines of medium-low voltage with a total length of more than 87 km. The company also reconstructed 5 distribution centers and replaced 26 transformer substations with modern complete transformer substations in Mariupol, Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk, Mirnograd, Konstantinovka, Druzhkovka. In addition, the company installed 34 reclosers, which automatically turn the damaged section off and prevent large-scale blackouts in the event of an emergency.

“Thanks to the investment stimulating RAB-tariff adopted in 2021, we have increased investments in the energy infrastructure of the Donetsk region by 72% compared to last year. Thus, we launched the large-scale program called Big Network Renovation. We are now in a position to upgrade the networks, which should have been done many years ago,” says Oleksii Degtyarev, Head of DTEK Donetsk Grids. “In total, in 2021, the company invested more than UAH 332 million in the network development. DTEK is transforming its business by introducing European standards of customer service. We hear the needs of our customers; we know about the problems they face. We put efforts every day to make the power supply more reliable."

Within the Big Network Renovation project, DTEK Donetsk Grids performed the reconstruction and modernization of several large electrical infrastructure facilities.

Reconstruction of the 110 kV Krasnoarmeyskaya substation improved the power supply for 17,000 customers in Pokrovsk. The company also completed the first stage of the 110 kV Dimitrovo substation reconstruction. Thus, more than 12,000 residents in Mirnograd and Novogrodovka received more reliable power supply.

Another significant project is the reconstruction of the 110 kV overhead line named KuTPP – Kotlyarevskaya No. 1, 2. As part of the reconstruction, 29 poles and 2.9 km of wire were replaced. The project budget was UAH 11.25 million without VAT. Thanks to the line renewal, the utility company could improve the power supply of a number of mines, the Avdeevsky coke-chemical plant, substations of the Donetsk railway, the Karlovsk filtering station, as well as the residents of Selidovo, the front-line Avdeevka and a number of settlements in the Pokrovsky district.

The company will pursue the Big Networks Renovation project in 2022. DTEK Donetsk Grids is reconstructing several facilities across the Donetsk region. There are three high-voltage substations among the largest projects: the 110 kV Krasnoarmeyskaya substation, the 110 kV Artemovsk substation and the second stage of the 110 kV Dimitrovo substation reconstruction. These substations provide power supply to more than 40,000 customers, industrial enterprises, and social infrastructure facilities in Pokrovsk, Mirnograd, Novogrodovka, Bakhmut and surrounding areas. Also, 110 kV high-voltage lines named Zhelannoye-Ocheretino and Kotlyarevskaya-Ocheretino are expected to be renewed. Reconstruction of more than 17 km of lines will significantly increase the reliability of power supply to residents and industrial facilities in Avdiivka.