Translated material
Passed out from the heat
Even elevator stops are explained by weather anomalies
Another temperature record set yesterday in Moscow - the weather station at the All-Russian Exhibition Center recorded plus 32.1 degrees - has not yet disabled the capital's power supply system. But utility services are now inclined to attribute any disruptions in the operation of their farms to the heat. For example, widespread cases of elevator shutdowns in high-rise buildings.“Working in such conditions places stringent demands on equipment and power engineers, but so far we are going through this regime with minimal losses for consumers,” Anatoly Chubais, head of RAO UES of Russia, told reporters yesterday. True, no one can give a 100 percent guarantee that there will be no blackouts. “Not a single energy system in the world can be completely immune from failures,” the press service of RAO UES told Vremya Novostey.
It is noteworthy that references to heat as the cause of all kinds of failures are literally becoming popular among the capital’s utility workers right before our eyes. Yesterday, representatives of the Moscow municipal services complex told Interfax that about 300 shutdowns of elevators in multi-story buildings were recorded during the day. 38 people had to be quickly rescued from blocked cabins.
However , the capital's energy workers claim that they are doing everything possible to ensure the normal operation of electrical appliances in Muscovites' apartments and equipment in offices and enterprises. “The operating mode is difficult for us, but we are trying to ensure that, even despite the heat, the energy supply is provided without interruption,” said the press service of RAO UES.
Moreover, yesterday the capital managed to avoid restrictions on one of the lines, which was supposed to be de-energized in connection with the commissioning of the new Matveevskaya substation. “It was assumed that the energy consumption of the western direction should have been limited to 44 MW. But thanks to the work of our specialists, this was avoided,” press secretary of the Moscow Electric Grid Company (MOESK) Alexander Shapochkin told Vremya Novostei.
According to Alexander Shapochkin, if restrictions are introduced, because “the equipment still needs to be repaired,” then only after the peak of energy consumption associated with the heat has passed. “Yesterday there was no peak in consumption, so today there will be no restrictions,” Mosenergosbyt press secretary Sergei Kozlovsky assured a Vremya Novostei correspondent.