Impact of the Power System Operator Company on the Urban Environment

Abstract

Sustainable development of the city requires consideration of many interrelated factors, with particular attention to the city's socio-organizational and cultural institutions. This research examines how the presence of an enterprise performing the functions of the system operator of the regional power system in a city affects the status of the city, its social, technological, educational, and cultural development. The paper considers Ekaterinburg (a city in Russia), which is the capital of the Urals. One of the factors ensuring the dominance of this city and its development is the presence in Ekaterinburg of a company that provides the management of the united energy system of the region. It is “United Dispatch Control of Urals”, part of the “Russian Power System Operator” company. The functions of the system operators, both direct and indirect, are considered, such as interaction with universities and research centers, participation in educational activities, job creation. An analysis of Ekaterinburg from the point of view of the labor market, characteristics of the energy system of the Sverdlovsk region (the capital of which is Ekaterinburg) was carried out. Finally, the United Dispatch Control of Urals' influence on the social and cultural level of the city and the development of the region power system are presented.