Students of the SUSU Institute of Engineering and Technology have come back from Crimea where they were taking internship. Master’s students Aleksey Miroshnichenko, Anton Guselnikov and Igor Zamchalkin were working at one of the wind-driven power plants. Among the tasks set before the young men were inspection, maintenance and repairs of the equipment.
“At one of the classes, Evgeny Solomin, a Professor from our Department, told us that last year our students took such a trip for the first time, and there was also such an opportunity for this year. We gave this idea a thought, discussed all the details and decided to go. According to our curriculum, we had to take two trainings in a row: educational training and internship, that is, we were supposed to spend 4 weeks in Crimea. In general, together with the travelling time, our training took 35 days,” shares Aleksey Miroshnichenko, Master’s student of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
The capacity of the wind-driven power plant is 2.1 MW. This is the capacity that the power plant can transfer into the grid when operating under normal conditions, i.e. if the wind speed is high and stable. Such periods are typical for the Crimean spring and autumn. And in summer, when the wind is weak, some of the wind-driven power plants are shut-down, in order to reduce wear of their parts and perform scheduled equipment repairs.
The power plant at which the students worked is owned by Crimea Generating Systems company, which closely collaborates with SUSU. South Ural State University helps the company with scientific developments, and the company in its turn provides students with places for taking internships.
“As a result of taking this internship we have gained priceless experience in working at horizontal axis wind-driven power plants. We do have experience in working at vertical axis plants since our Department has many developments namely in the field of vertical axis power plants. And we very rarely deal with horizontal axis power plants. I would also like to express our huge thanks to our university’s Administration, Dean’s Office of the Power Engineering Faculty, Head of the Department of Electric Power Generation Stations, Networks and Supply Systems Irina Kirpichnikova, as well as to Evgeny Solomin. I hope that our fruitful collaboration with Crimea will continue, and the number of students taking internships there will grow every year,” shares his impressions Aleksey Miroshnichenko.
The students’ working hours were 09:00 to 18:00, and after that they had free time. So, almost every day the residents of South Urals went to the beach, specially equipped for swimming and located two kilometers off the power plant, and traveled across the peninsula during the weekends.