Expert: Power Stations in East of Azerbaijan Could Not Stand Load

Baku / 05.07.18 / Turan: According to the State Statistics Committee, over the past 20 years, between 1998 and 2017, the country invested 6.66 billion manat in the development of the electric power industry (including the transmission and distribution of electricity). Of this amount, 6.1 billion manat was invested since 2005.

"Taking into account the huge investments, the stranger it is that the system collapsed, unable to withstand the temperature above the average monthly rate by 5-6 degrees," the economist Azer Mehdiyev said.

It turns out that as a result of a local accident on a 330-kilovolt transformer of one of the Mingachevir substations, the country plunged into an energy collapse, the metro, airports and other important state facilities were paralyzed.

The society is perplexed - why, with the huge investments in this sphere, did the relay protection and automation system (RPA) of the unified power system of the country fail if it really exists and meets modern requirements?

It would seem that the answer to the main question was almost received. At a meeting on Wednesday, convened in connection with the situation in the energy sector, the President of Azerbaijan asked a direct question to the head of Azerenerji OJSC Etibar Pirverdiyev: "It is necessary to create such a system that due to a single accident the whole country's energy system does not go out of order. Why did the power stations put into operation in Baku, Sumgait and the regions ceased to function after the accident?!" Ilham Aliyev asked. President Ilham Aliyev at the same time shamed the official and told him to sit down.

Meanwhile, as it turned out from Turan's conversation with the head of the Association of Specialists of Electric Power Industry of Azerbaijan, Rasul Suleymanov, in fact, the RPA worked:

"Relay protection and automation separated AzGRES from the system. Modern microprocessor devices of relay protection, network automation, as well as devices for recording of emergency events and processes, emergency response and regime automation responded to the accident. They shut off the local source of danger from the grid, but the steam and gas power stations in the east of the country could not accept the load increased as a result, since they cannot operate at full capacity," the expert said.

The fact is that the power of gas-steam power stations on the Caspian coast is guaranteed at +25 degrees of the ambient air and water intake not more than 16 degrees Celsius. This refers to the water that is needed to condense the steam. In hot weather, the stations operate at half power. In addition, consumed gas does not meet the standards, which leads to breakdowns and reduces efficiency.

The gas-fired power economy is losing power due to high temperatures of air and sea water. The crude gas supplied by SOCAR to these stations is also the reason for their poor-quality operation.

"The gas turbines are light. They have a small moment of inertia, which impedes maintaining power," the expert said.

Thus, the emergency at the substation in Mingachevir played the role of the last drop under the confluence of other circumstances. Power stations in the east of the country could not withstand the high load that occurred due to the accident at Mingachevir TPP, which was the cause of the blackout. -0-