The USAID Energy Security Project (ESP) has provided the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) with extensive software tools to support its day-to-day dispatching processes.
The software tools provided by USAID ESP help to perform calculations for the data-driven decision-making processes of GTSOU, making its operations efficient and streamlined.
This USAID assistance covers vital functionalities, including online reconstruction of current technological processes and off-line modeling tools for various “what-if” scenarios, aiming to optimize network operations and gas consumption, detect leaks, plan daily regimes, and conduct training for dispatching teams.
According to USAID ESP Gas Sector Lead Justin Goonesinghe, GTSOU received modern tools required for operational supervisory control, simulation, and optimization of natural gas transmission processes.
The software has already been utilized for strategic projects, such as “The Independent Technical Review of Stress-Test Scenarios for the 2023/2024 Winter Season” conducted together with USAID ESP, the Energy Community Secretariat, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, and other Ukrainian gas market stakeholders, and “Ukraine Gas Transmission System Optimization” project, also implemented by USAID ESP.
The review results allow GTSOU to navigate various operation scenarios, select the best technical configuration for the gas transmission system, and thus make informed decisions and devise appropriate strategies.
The software has also improved data transparency, reliability, efficiency, safety, and resilience to potential threats. Highlighting its impact, Andrii Tsynkaliuk, the Gas Sector Expert at USAID ESP, emphasized that with the software, GTSOU can conduct real-time monitoring and have control over various operational aspects, enabling swift responses to changing demands and emergencies within the gas transmission infrastructure. The company can also simulate and analyze different operational scenarios and assess the potential impact of various conditions on the gas transmission system.
This will help GTSOU take proactive measures to prevent problems, mitigate risks, and respond rapidly to changing demands and emergencies within the gas transmission infrastructure.
GTSOU experts underlined the importance of this assistance and the training provided to key users. “Dispatching modeling software is an important step of the ongoing upgrade of GTSOU dispatching IT systems. Jointly with the USAID Energy Security Project, we have developed a precise hydraulic model of our network, which helps us to model various network development options.” – said Andriy Datsiuk, Chief Dispatcher of GTSOU.
According to Pavlo Yagoda, Head of GTSOU’s Dispatching Operations Department, the Gas TSO of Ukraine has ensured the integration of the provided software with all relevant IT systems present at the company, including the new SCADA system. That allows the management to ensure that dispatching teams have all the needed data to monitor and control the technological process online and perform analytics to define potential areas for cost optimization.
Additionally, the USAID Energy Security Project has covered post-provision support for GTSOU for two years to address further development of solutions based on software tools and enable the company to benefit from all the features of this new software.