Enguri HPP is beginning to introduce digital management — what does the project involve? — www.bm.ge

4 Apr 2023 Representatives of the Austrian company Verbund visited Enguri HPP with a view to introducing digital management. During the visit the foreign special...

Representatives of the Austrian company Verbund visited Enguri HPP with a view to introducing digital management. During the visit the foreign specialists toured the territory of the arch dam, examined the structures there in detail and carried out work to assess the level of the information technology system in use at the organisation. In order to draw up the terms of reference for introducing digital management, the main task of the Austrian experts is to examine the control system of Enguri HPP and to obtain detailed information from representatives of the operations service.

“In the global world, digital technologies are developing very fast. With this initiative we are simplifying the process of managing the plant, so as to hedge all the risks that depend on human factors. In addition, the launch of the energy exchange is planned. Accordingly, in this part of the reforms it is very important how the company trades and what strategy it follows. At the same time, the risks associated with weather forecasting, hydrology and the production and technical situation will be hedged through digital management,” said Irakli Shengelia, commercial director of Enguri HPP.

“In terms of experience working with hydropower plants, our organisation is one of the leaders in Europe. We are glad that we were the ones invited to assess the operational technologies of Enguri HPP. On the basis of the information obtained, we are to issue recommendations that matter for the more efficient operation of the plant. We are working together with the Georgian company UGT, at whose invitation we are here. The aim of this visit is to interview the operating system personnel so as to obtain all the information and knowledge we need to assess the situation. This is my first time here and I can see that this is a very large plant that requires a full package of monitoring systems, and that a great deal of technical equipment is involved in the process,” said Wilfried Reich, head of the consulting and services department of the Austrian company Verbund.

“This project consists of several components. First of all, it is an assessment of the level of information technology at Enguri HPP. Specifically, at what level and what kind of technologies are used here, how far they meet modern requirements, what scope we have to use modern technologies in order to make management more efficient and improve the quality of production. It should be noted that using modern technologies, data from the various sensors will be obtained efficiently and quickly, so the quality and speed of response will improve. That will be reflected directly in electricity generation and, most importantly, will allow us to plan repair works over the long term, to receive information quickly about whether any machine has a problem, and so on. Since Enguri HPP is preparing to enter the market, in this case the planning and analytics part is very important,” said Zurab Maghradze, business development director of UGT, the company that won the tender.