Young power engineers compete for prizes in the Special League of PJSC "T Plus"

As part of the X anniversary season The International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN" started  Special League of PJSC "T Plus" The Championship "CASE-IN» it is included in the presidential platform "Russia is a land of opportunity" and It is implemented using a grant from the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society.

The organizers of the project are the company PJSC "T Plus", Reliable Change Foundation, Youth Forum of Mining Leaders and Astralogica LLC.

The purpose of the competition is to introduce the case−solving method into the corporate youth policy of the company as a talent identification system, a form of training and development of young specialists.

This year, the Special League is being held for the fourth time, and its main theme, as well as the entire season of the CASE-IN championship, is Industry 4.0. Young power engineers from 12 branches of the company take part in the competition to solve a case on real production problems.

Svetlana Kuzminykh, Director of Human Resources Management and Organizational Development at T Plus, addressing the participants, noted that the CASE-IN is very consistent with the spirit of the times and will benefit everyone. "In times of instability, the best solution is to develop yourself, your skills, and out–of-the-box thinking. The engineering championship is the best way to help with this. Therefore, there are no losers in the CASE-IN – participants will be able to improve their professional competencies, and the company will receive a number of breakthrough ideas.", – underlined Svetlana Kuzminykh.

Deputy Director of the Reliable Shift Foundation Olga Zubok She noted that since 2015, the specialists of PJSC T Plus have been participating as experts in many projects of the foundation, making a significant contribution to the education of future generations of high-quality specialists in the energy industry.: "In the year of the 10th anniversary of the CASE-IN championship, I would like to express my gratitude to the heads and experts of the branches of PJSC T Plus and personally to Oksana Kritikova, head of corporate culture and brand of the employer of PJSC T Plus, for their continued support of our efforts in working with industry youth. It is very valuable for us that the championship is integrated into the company's youth policy. The participation of the teams of the branches of PJSC T Plus in the League of Young Professionals has grown into a full–fledged corporate project - a Special league, which focuses on the strategic tasks facing PJSC T Plus. I am convinced that the result of the project this year will be the implementation of the best developments in practice.   Also, young professionals who have proven themselves on the project will receive expanded responsibility and career development." 

The league's qualifying tests are conducted remotely. In the first of them, specialists from branches of PJSC T Plus in the republics of Udmurtia, Chuvashia and Mari El, Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk, Saratov and Orenburg regions competed for tickets to the finals.

The management of PJSC T Plus outlined the task for the contestants – to create a roadmap for the transition from the existing central heating system of the city to a modern system, taking into account the concept of 3D (decarbonization, digitalization, decentralization). Within its framework, the specialists studied the company's existing capacities and the level of automation and control, the management model of the heat node, accounting for energy resources, as well as the markets for heat and electric energy. Based on the analysis of the technology of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy, as well as the current state of existing thermal units, the participants developed a concept for digitalization of the thermal unit aimed at improving the efficiency of the assets of PJSC T Plus.

The young employees of the company demonstrated their innovative projects to an expert commission, which included leading specialists from PJSC T Plus, as well as representatives of Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin and Irkutsk National Research Technical University.

The team "Not random people" was recognized as the winner of the competition. Participants Dmitry Stolbov (captain), Vitaly Moromov, Daniil Shishlin, Maria Kaisina and Stepan Cherepanov represent the Udmurt branch of PJSC T Plus.

The champions proposed a new generation distribution scheme as part of their project. In particular, their idea provides for the construction of an additional hot water boiler in the region at CHPP-1, the expansion of networks in Izhevsk, and the optimization of the heat source operation mode by maintaining the same costs. According to Udmurt power engineers, their project has several advantages at once. One of them is a 17% reduction in coolant consumption, a reduction in losses in the pipelines of the main network and the cost of electricity for pumping coolant to TNCs and CHP plants.

 "For us, the project is a great opportunity to prove ourselves, offer the most daring and unconventional solutions, receive feedback from experts on our proposals and improve these solutions in terms of optimizing the heating unit and using Industry 4.0 technologies, as well as share experiences with other branches. This season we have a renewed team, and we plan to perform to the maximum!", - This is the captain of the Triumphators Dmitry Stolbov.

Their colleagues from the Sverdlovsk branch of PJSC T Plus, Yulia Yashkina (captain), Ksenia Kolodistaya, Nikita Kondrashov, Vadim Efimov and Natalia Gorbunova, united in the E-Cat team, took the second place.

As part of the case assignment, the repeated participants of the Special League had to define a modern heat supply system, identify Industry 4.0 priorities, and develop effective measures to apply Industry 4.0 technologies in the company's processes. At the same time, the contestants had to take into account the economic component and socio-cultural aspects.

"Before starting work, we analyzed the existing tools for managing the Yekaterinburg heat supply system, and this led to the ideas that we disclose in our solution., – shares the nuances of project development Julia Yashkina. – The essence is to fill the existing digital twin of the heat node with information from temperature and flood sensors in the heat chambers, install modems in the terminals of the heating system, use intelligent computing systems to control the main equipment of local boilers and combine disparate software products aimed at working with customers into one database – BigData. Each of the presented events is relevant for the company, will bring it additional profit and reduce costs."

After detailed study, representatives of the Sverdlovsk region plan to implement their solution at the facilities of PJSC T Plus and, possibly, at other heat supply and heating grid organizations in Russia as an exchange of experience on effective management of heat supply systems.

According to the team captain, the project taught the team members to interact as one coherent mechanism, consider all possible solutions and think critically.

"The special league allowed each of us to strengthen our professional skills and competencies. Young professionals need to participate in the competition, because it is a valuable experience and a chance to present their ideas to highly qualified specialists for evaluation, gain experience in public speaking and defending projects. In our opinion, the project is a social and career elevator.", - Yulia Yashkina thinks so.

The bronze medals went to the Molotov Cocktail team from the Perm branch of PJSC T Plus. Yulia Bakhmetyeva (captain), Daniil Shmyrin, Nikita Oputin, Anna Sysolyatina and Anastasia Khudanina propose exploring outdoor networks using a quadcopter, as well as implementing the T+ Knowledge Base educational platform to develop the skills and competencies of employees. The Young Power Engineers project has another innovation - the Ty+Inform mobile application, which will host educational content, social campaigns and surveys.

Yulia Bakhmetyeva: "Our team has reached the finals, and this is already a success. Now we are actively preparing for the performance: analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors, working through the comments on the project received from experts. The main thing that the championship provides is self–development, experience and the opportunity to communicate with colleagues from other regions. "Fiery in heart, burning in mind" – this motto perfectly describes our team of professionals. A team is an organism governed by the spirit of command and the mind of the commander. We will try to perform well, the guys are determined to win!"

The three winners in full receive tickets to the final of the Special League of PJSC T Plus, which will be held as part of the grand final of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN" in Moscow in May 2022.

The reward for the champions and prize-winners of the decisive test will be new opportunities for career and professional growth, as well as inclusion in the managerial personnel reserve of PJSC T Plus.  The authors of the best ideas will get a chance to implement their developments at the company's enterprises.

The CASE-IN championship is being implemented within the framework of the federal project "Social Elevators for Everyone" of the national project "Education".