DTEK Grids CEO Ivan Gelyukh: Smart Grid is the Foundation for the Development of Smart City in Ukraine
“It is certainly impossible to imagine a truly Smart and Safe City without a safe and high-quality electricity supply. Smart Grids are essential for this. The Smart Grid technologies help cities and regions deal with a great number of various tasks ranging from improving energy efficiency and integration of green generation to developing the infrastructure of EV charging stations. But the most important aspect of smart grids is that they ensure reliable electricity supply capable of satisfying the constantly growing demand of modern cities,” noted Ivan Gelyukh.
In his opinion, energy security is another crucial aspect of the Safe City concept. Smart grids prevent incidents and reduce the time required to restore electricity supply to a minimum. This has a direct impact on energy security, including energy supply to surveillance, security, and lighting systems.
In his speech, DTEK Grids CEO focused on the Smart Grids innovations and technologies implemented by the company in the regions of its operation. “DTEK accepts challenges and resolves issues related to the grids, analyses the best global practices, and is pioneering the introduction of the Smart Grid technology in Ukraine. Our objective is to build a reliable and modern infrastructure of power grids that will facilitate the development of the Ukrainian economy. Unfortunately, regulatory restrictions that remain in force in Ukraine still impede programs for the modernization and automation of its power grids. At the same time, in recent years we have installed more than 500 thousand smart meters for residential consumers and automated more than 60% of substations. We have reached the final phase of constructing and providing content for geographic information systems, which is crucial for the implementation of the Smart City concept,” summarized Ivan Gelyukh.
The New Paradigm of the Safe City: Israeli-Ukrainian Best Practices and Innovation Case Studies round table was also attended by the representatives of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, the Ukraine-Israel Inter-Parliamentary Group, and a number of national and international IT companies. The participants discussed the importance of state support of innovations for the development of the Smart and Safe City urban infrastructure in Ukraine.