Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Sergey Dregval, who is responsible for energy and tariff regulation issues, visited Mining University. He held a working meeting with the rector of the university, got acquainted with the infrastructure of the higher educational institution, and talked to students and postgraduate students in an “open dialogue” format.
The visit was timed to coincide with the annual All-Russian Festival of Energy Conservation and Ecology #VmesteYarche, aimed at attracting the attention of young people to the topic of energy conservation. Educational work is carried out in the form of diverse events: from large-scale city festivals to contests of creative, project and research works among schoolchildren and the development of thematic classes at secondary and higher educational institutions.
One of the key tasks of the festival is to popularize engineering specialities in the field of power engineering. To implement it, career guidance meetings of leaders of the educational and business community with students of specialized universities were organized. The deputy governor supported this initiative, moreover, he decided to personally address the students of Mining University as a “guest without a tie.”
Beforehand, Sergey Dregval got acquainted with the scientific laboratory complex of Mining University, based on which the students are trained. In particular, he was impressed by the teaching and training complex for offshore oil and gas production, as well as the intellectual control and power supply laboratory by Schneider Electric. The equipment that simulates the process of electricity distribution and metering makes it possible to analyze consumption and identify problems that reduce the energy efficiency of industrial enterprises. In addition, it demonstrates which actions or technologies help to optimize energy consumption.
“This is a unique scientific and educational base, where the most modern technologies are used. It’s very good that we have it in St. Petersburg. I know, power companies already actively cooperate with Mining University, e.g., Lenenergo. I’m sure we need to deepen and develop this cooperation. Many economic sectors are now in demand for high technologies connected with digitalization. The power industry is no exception. Therefore, the specialties related to their use are more relevant today than ever before,” Sergey Dregval emphasized.
During the conversation with the students, the Vice-governor told about the perspectives of working in the Saint Petersburg energy sector, about what qualities a manager should have, and shared his opinion on economic decarbonization.