14.09.2011
On 14 September in Moscow IDGC Holding and Russian Helicopters entered into an Agreement of Cooperation. The document was signed by Nikolay Shvets, Director General of IDGC Holding, and Dmitry Petrov, Director General of Russian Helicopters, JSC.
The agreement is meant to meet JSC IDGC Holding needs in helicopters and to widen the range, modifications and variants of operating the helicopters produced by Russian Helicopters companies and used under order of electricity distribution grid complex engineers.
According to Nikolay Shvets, air patrol operations are becoming a more and more popular instrument among electricity distribution grid companies. “JSC IDGC Holding controls over 2 million kilometres of power transmission lines (which equals 51 times the length of the Equator) with most part of the transmission lines set in difficult to access places. In case some technological breakdowns occur the traditional ground patrolling in order to find the damages could become an inexcusably long process”, underlined Nikolay Shvets. “Improving the situational awareness about the current state of the power grid is one of the key points in the policy of IDGC Holding. This helps to optimize repair plans and accident recovery works. Broadening the helicopter usage will allow Russian power engineers not only to conduct aerial monitoring but also immediately send accident recovery teams to the points where power lines are disrupted. It also allows to use state-of-the-art innovation technologies such as laser scanning for technological certification of power transmission lines”.
CEO of Russian Helicopters Dmitry Petrov said: “The cooperation with JSC IDGC Holding is an important stage for us in fulfilling our strategic tasks to provide the Russian economy with modern helicopters. I’m sure that using Russian-produced geographically and climate-specific helicopters will help IDGC to enhance power lines monitoring effectiveness and allow completing the tasks in emergency situations immediately”.
IDGC Holding, a company operating in the Russian electricity sector, comprises Interregional and Regional Distribution Grid Companies (IDGCs/RDGCs), research and development institutes, design and construction institutes, and construction and sales companies. 97 affiliates of IDGCs/RDGCs are located in 69 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The operational area of IDGC Holding companies covers a network of ten voltage types, ranging from 0.4 kV to 220 kV. The total length of networks of IDGC Holding’s operating subsidiaries exceeds 2.1 million kilometers. IDGC Holding is one of the world’s largest electrical grid companies in terms of the length of electricity transmission lines and the number of customers. Electricity transmission in 2010 totaled 591 billion kWh. The IDGC Holding team comprises around 190 thousand highly qualified employees responsible for providing reliable and high quality electricity transmission and distribution services, including network connection services. More detailed company information can be found at http://www.holding-mrsk.ru/about/facts/spravka/
Russian Helicopters is a leading player in the global helicopter industry, the sole Russian designer and manufacturer of helicopters and one of the few companies worldwide with the capability to design, manufacture, service and test modern civilian and military helicopters. Headquartered in Moscow, we operate five helicopter assembly plants, two design bureaus, two components production plants, one overhaul plant and one helicopter service company providing aftermarket services in Russia and abroad. Although Russian Helicopters was established only in 2007, some of the company’s subsidiaries have existed for more than 60 years. The light multi-role Turbomeca Arrius 2G2-equipped Ka-226T helicopter can be employed in conducting aerial monitoring, urban high-rise construction, surface surveillance, and police operations, including drug interdiction. The coaxial (dual rotor) configuration gives the Ka-226T an advantage in payload and altitude (up to 7000 m).
Ka-226T video available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4L9LqXQqdk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42M0XY3u9So
