ESO apologizes to the neighbors without electricity: all the employees worked, it was all due to the breaking of trees

ESO CEO Mindaugas Keizeris points out that electricity supply has been restored to almost all residents, two hours ago generators were transported and built to individual households that have not yet restored power: “These are not the residents who remained from February 26. This is a one or two day breakdown, a completely separate house. “

Both he and D. Maikštėnas began the press conference on Monday with an apology from the residents.

“I want to begin by sincerely thanking all ESO customers and apologizing for the inconvenience. I want to thank the ESO employees who have remained true to their profession. Without sparing their health, they dedicated themselves to walking and rebuilding the network, not counting the hours or their health. Many thanks to them, “said D. Maikštėnas at the press conference.

According to him, not all the problems of the past week can be “canceled” by natural disasters. “We need to understand that as the climate changes, we will see more and more of these natural cataclysms. This means that we must all prepare for them together, so that in the future such natural events occur, all Lithuanians can experience the least possible inconvenience and ESO employees should not make heroic efforts to rebuild the network, ”he said.

As D. Maikštėnas points out, Ignitis grupė has a very solid financial base, so it will never limit or limit investments in the ESO network.

Over the past three years, the company has made record investments in the ESO network, with an investment of close to 600 million. EUR. Until 2030 it is planned to invest another 2 billion. EUR. Of these, more than 400 million. Eur will target the replacement of overhead power lines with underground cables. However, this is not enough: all organizational and investment tools must be used.

“However, we demand from ESO that all investments are made efficiently so that they do not generate tariffs for the population of Lithuania as a whole. We have to understand that investments in cabling are the most expensive, they have the greatest impact on the tariff. , so it is necessary to use all possible means ”, he says.

According to the director of the Ignitis Group, digitization should be promoted above all to create new processes and systems that will make the reconstruction and maintenance of the network much faster and more efficient, which will lead to the resilience of the smart grid.

“It is also very important to make use of all the organizational measures, such as extending the gaps, so that falling trees do not cut the cables. It is no less important for everyone to use emergency power generators, ”he said.

Mindaugas Keizeris, ESO President and CEO, says that although natural disasters have been greatest in individual regions for 60 years, this is no excuse.

“On ESO’s part, we have to ensure the reliability of the network, we do. We have planned a summer and a proven program to increase the network of underground cables, especially in forested areas, so that the felled trees do not break the lines. These days the lines have been cut and all the supports have been overturned for about ten kilometers. Once the lines were rebuilt and ordered, repeated fractures occurred and the trees fell on the supports, so the wiring is very important. We are prepared to reach 67% in 2060. network in forested areas, ”he said.

According to him, the trees that caused the most problems were the trees that fell on power lines.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Certainly no support fell due to wear and tear. You saw the pictures full of what the lines looked or looked like. Even the foresters, firefighters, tractors handling the lines couldn’t get in. People were walking and driving. : pushing and pulling each other. It was all due to the breaking of trees, the lines themselves were not broken due to the snow. “… This is a consequence of nature, but by no means my excuse,” he said Keizer.

According to him, ESO has learned its lessons: “Now we have lessons from which we can learn what can be done to locate and eliminate faults more effectively, how to reorganize the brigades. We will sit down to review all the processes that are related to what has been learned in each circuit, from the call center to the belief that residents have electricity ”.

The person in charge of ESO ensures that the failures were not solved by ESO employees directly involved in this work. 250 brigades worked daily.

“All the ESO folks did all the things: some logged in, some called, a third removed, a fourth that was not qualified to do it, went through the forest and logged faults and sent specific faults for more efficient removal. Large numbers of people and technicians joined the contractors who were able to do this. Up to 250 brigades worked daily. (…) Both the contractor brigade and the ESO brigade worked, and we asked the help of the elderly by inviting tractors to stretch or clear the roads, ”he says.

ESO reports that as of January 25. including short-term and recurring failures, the supply of electricity was resumed around 520 thousand. homes. There were around 290 thousand unique customers disconnected, of which 50 percent. had repeated disconnections. The number of brigades involved in problem solving ranged from 200 to 250 brigades, employing about 600 people.