The article examines the information and analytical technology implemented during the operation of electrical networks, based on the capabilities of multi-agent monitoring of the somatic and mental condition of the staff of power grid companies and predictive analysis of anthropogenic risks of energy production within the framework of a risk-based approach to human resource management. The analysis includes instrumental monitoring, assessment of indicators (using objective data) characterizing the condition of operational managers, operational and maintenance staff involved in real technological and business processes for servicing equipment of network companies using optimization theory methods, fuzzy sets, index analysis, provision of integral information to operational managers and management of energy companies, the formation of proposals on the areas of investment in the development of their human resources based on solving the optimization problem of minimizing damage due to wrong actions, inaction and violation of safety requirements for energy production. It is proposed to use a system of dimensionless index indicators for assessing the condition of staff, predictive analysis of the success of their professional activities and the formation of its ontological model in order to manage anthropogenic risks to ensure reliable and safe functioning of energy production with the possibility of developing measures and scenarios of impacts on staff within the production process. The article presents approaches to the formation of monitoring technology, which ensures the construction of unified systems for recording the condition of staff operating electric power facilities, statistics of failures due to staff's fault to determine the optimal type, composition and cost of impact on staff, improving their health based on multi-agent analysis of monitoring data, allowing to direct the flow of events in accordance with the conditions set by the availability of funds for these purposes. The authors have developed a mathematical apparatus, proposed devices and software, with the help of which an automated analysis of the indices of the condition of staff of each category, servicing equipment units (assemblies) and the formation of scenarios of impacts on it (agent-based modeling of condition-controlled behavior) has been carried out.

One of the most promising areas in the development of the electric power industry is generally regarded to lie in expanding the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in the electric energy balance of power systems in the form of wind and solar power plants (WPP and SPP), the saving of organic fuel (coal, gas, fuel oil) and the reduction of environmentally harmful emissions into the atmosphere considered to be their most important advantages. However, the impact of RES on the controllability of the modes of operation of electric power systems and on the reliability of the IPS operation remains quite unexplored.

Currently, the global energy industry uses 318 million kW of WPP and about 142.4 million kW of SPP, of which the major West European countries account for about 227 million kW, or 49.3%. On average, wind and solar power plants account for almost 30% of the total generating capacity in Western Europe, with Denmark having the largest share of WPP (47%) and Germany having the highest share of SPP (18.6%). However, an uncontrolled growth in the share of WPP and SPP in the structure of generating capacities of power systems begins to manifest itself in a sharp decline in the reliability of the power industry due to the fact that a number of negative properties of WPP and SPP have not been taken into account (at least, to a sufficient extent), which manifested themselves in practice in a system accident in the UK power system that occurred on August 09, 2019, when, as a result of an "ordinary" short circuit, a system accident occurred, with up to 1.1 million consumers with a total load of 1690 MW disconnected from the power supply system for a period of 15 to 45 minutes. This is estimated to have resulted in economic losses for consumers amounting to 12.3–15.0 million USD.

The reason for this is that the high sensitivity of WPP, SPP, CCGT and gas piston units to voltage and frequency drops is not properly considered in conditions of insufficient capacity of the rotating (mobile) generation reserve. Damage can be prevented by increasing the rotating reserve within the available reserve of the power system, which will require an increase in funds for maintaining the same due to additional fuel consumption. The ratio of reduction of probable damage to consumers and the cost of additional fuel consumption for maintenance of a required rotating reserve in the power system allows to economically substantiate the strategy and scale of introduction of renewable energy sources to the power industry. 

Reactive power in the power system negatively affects the operating mode of the electric network, additionally loading high-voltage lines and transformers, which leads to an increase in power losses, as well as to an increase in voltage drops. The influence of active and reactive power components of voltage in the network nodes is different and is overwhelmingly determined by the ratio of active and reactive components of the resistance elements of the electric system. In high-voltage networks, the reactive component of the resistance significantly exceeds the active component, and therefore the flow of reactive current through the network leads to a greater voltage drop than the flow of the active component of the current. The transfer of reactive power can lead to exceeding the normalized voltage range in the load nodes. To reduce power losses and voltage drop in the elements of the electric network, synchronous compensators (SC), static capacitor banks (SCB), static thyristor compensators (STC), controlled shunt reactors (CSR) can be used. The cost of production and transmission of active and reactive power are different, and when choosing the power of reactive power compensation means, it is necessary to take into account the costs and compare them with the resulting effect, which differs for large and small values of reactive power when this is reduced by the same amount. To assess the feasibility of application of compensatory devices, and to choose their type and locations of installation, relevant calculations are required. An empirical criterion is proposed for preliminary assessment of the technical feasibility of reactive power compensation. It enables to identify the network sections and nodes, which require reactive power compensation and should be considered in greater detail.

Options are considered for modernization of the energy industry complex, which includes a large number of enterprises and combined heat and power plants (CHPP) with low-potential waste heat. For modernization, it is proposed to use heat pumps (HPI) in CHPP systems. A variant is presented of using the low-potential heat of the ice-free Yenisei River. The environmental and economic efficiency of the proposed options have been evaluated.

The city of Krasnoyarsk located on both banks of the Yenisei River, is considered as an example. In Krasnoyarsk, there are large hydroelectric power plants that generate excess power for electricity. CHPP-1, CHPP-2 and CHPP-3 also operate, as well as a large number of boiler houses, whose harmful emissions are described in detail in the article. In addition, data on the number of low-potential sources are provided, and options for using low-potential heat sources in heat pump installations are considered. The output of low-potential heat by month is presented, and the calculation results are based on comparison of options for using HPI at three CHPPs. The possibility of closing inefficient coal-fired boilers has been examined, which would reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere and reduce the cost of heat production in the megalopolis for district heating systems.

The operation of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminium Plant is considered, which has harmful emissions (fluorine, sulfur oxides, dust, resinous substances), as well as primary energy losses of 13.5 million Gcal, of which only 40% goes to aluminium production, and 60% is lost and released into the environment. To reduce these losses by 1.5 times, it is proposed to install air heat exchangers. The prospect of using high-capacity HPIs is provided by the presence of river water from the Yenisei, the temperature of which does not fall below 3°C even in winter. Powerful HPIs with centrifugal compressors manufactured in Kazan will provide heat to administrative and residential buildings under construction in Krasnoyarsk with a total heat load of 803 Gcal/h. The payback period of systems with HPI is 6÷8 years.

The purpose of this study is to study the effect of loading power transformers (PT) in their continuous use on their energy efficiency on a real-life example of existing rural electric networks. It is noted that the vast majority of PT in rural areas have a very low load factor, which leads to an increase in specific losses of electric energy when this is transmitted to various consumers. It is planned to optimize the existing synchronized power supply systems in rural areas by creating new power supply projects in such a way as to integrate existing power sources and ensure the most efficient loading of power transformers for the subsequent transfer of these systems to isolated ones that receive power from distributed generation facilities. As an example, we use data from an electric grid company on loading power transformers in one of the districts of the Irkutsk region. Issues related to the determination of electric energy losses in rural PT at different numerical values of their load factors are considered. A computing device was developed using modern programming tools in the MATLAB system, which has been used to calculate and plot the dependence of power losses in transformers of various capacities on the actual and recommended load factors, as well as the dependence of specific losses during the transit of 1 kVA of power through a power transformer at the actual, recommended and optimal load factors. The analysis of specific losses of electric energy at the actual, recommended and optimal load factors of PT is made. Based on the analysis, the intervals of optimal load factors for different rated power of PT of rural distribution electric networks are proposed. It is noted that to increase the energy efficiency of PT, it is necessary to reduce idling losses by increasing the load of these transformers, which can be achieved by reducing the number of transformers while changing the configuration of 0.38 kV distribution networks.

In the thermal circuits of domestic steam turbines, mixing-type low-pressure heaters (LPH) with free-flow jet water distribution and counter-flow of water and steam are widely used. The choice of the counterflow variant of the media movement ensures the most efficient heat transfer. However, the technical problem of ensuring reliable operation of LPH in the entire range of design loads of TPP and NPP power units is still relevant.

During the commissioning and operation of mixing-type LPH in 800÷1200 MW turbines of TPP and NPP, the presence of metal knocks in the zone of the check valve, hydraulic shocks in the heating section were revealed. A priori, these phenomena indicated design flaws in LPH or manufacturing defects in their production. Research carried out by NPO CKTI specialists showed that periodic hydraulic shocks in the heating section and metal knocks occur as a result of uneven distribution around the circumference of the main condensate and steam supply. This leads to a breakdown of the check valve and the destruction of perforated plates and off-design heating of water in the volume of the annular LPH water chamber. To clarify the causes of the damage, develop recommendations for the reconstruction of the apparatus and further account for the design, two series of experimental studies were carried out on mixing-type heaters of 800 MW turbine units PNSV-2000-1 and PNSV-2000-2 manufactured at PJSC Krasny Kotelshchik. The purpose of the experimental studies was to determine the change in the water level in the water chamber and the heating of the main condensate in the elements of the heating compartment during normal operation of the power unit at loads of 400÷850 MW. Based on the results of the research, the method for calculating the mixing-type LPH has been refined, taking into account the revealed non-uniformity of water heating in the water chamber, recommendations for their reconstruction have been developed and implemented. 

This paper presents a techno-economic assessment of a hybrid solar-geothermal power plant that is modelled taking into account the available geothermal and solar energy resources at the Tendaho-1 (Dubti) geothermal field in Ethiopia. The hybrid power plant combines a single-flash geothermal power plant with a parabolic trough solar thermal plant to increase the energy level of geothermal steam. The geothermal fluid from one of the production wells at the geothermal site and the direct normal solar irradiance prevailing in the area offer the primary sources of energy used in the modelling. A thermodynamic analysis based on the principles of mass and energy conservation and a figure of merit analysis that allows evaluating the energy and economic performance of the hybrid power plant were performed. The technical and economic efficiency assessment was performed by comparing the performances of the hybrid power plant with a power system consisting of stand-alone geothermal and solar power plants. Results of the techno-economic assessment showed that for the same amount of energy inputs, depending on the available thermal energy storage capacity, a hybrid power plant generates up to 10.4% more electricity than a power system of two stand-alone power plants while generating a higher net present value at a lower cost of generation. In addition, the hybrid power plants with and without thermal storage system exhibit an economic figure of merit values of 2.62 and 3.42, i.e. the cost of solar resource per kWh of electricity in the hybrid energy system is reduced by 70.5% and 61.5%, respectively.

The authors assess the impact of the communication process on comprehensive study of renewable energy sources (RES) and its actualization as a factor in the development of alternative energy in the Russian Federation.

The aspects of improving communications and involving their processes and tools (technologies, tools, formats) in the creation of alternative energy infrastructure in Russia with the aim of improving the natural landscape in the conditions of predominant development of hydrocarbon economy have been identified and presented.

The study shows the role and the importance of transmitting knowledge about the global limitations of natural forces and resources, high rate of changes in the natural and climatic conditions of living on the planet Earth for the investment of states with centralized power industry in alternative sources of electricity, their creation and integration with existing energy infrastructure based on hydrocarbon raw materials.

The mechanisms of a political, economic, energy-technological, socio-ecological and educational-informational nature are described, which, when combined, can act synergistically in the current unstable realities to change the situation dramatically for the better and to form hybrid, more balanced and safer fuel and energy solutions on our planet and in Russia in particular.

It is concluded that the communication process in the field of alternative energy, which reduces the negative destructive impact on the environment, can become a determining factor and a serious driver for the development of the renewable energy sector under certain circumstances that are highlighted as relevant in this study.

A brief and essential description of the sources of electric energy generation is given, water, sun and wind being the initial resources for their generation. In relation to each type of alternative generators, both standard and universal communication processes (means) can be used, as well as those adapted exclusively to a specific renewable resource.