On March 28, 2024, the qualifying stage of the Student League of the XII International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN" with the support of the presidential platform "Russia is a country of opportunities" ended at St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design. "CASE-IN" is being implemented within the framework of the federal project "Social elevators for everyone" of the national project "Education".


In just ten days, student teams have developed solutions for the development of thermal energy. The participants of the Teploenergetika direction, on the instructions of Gazprom Energoholding LLC, had to propose ways to provide consumers with thermal energy by switching thermal loads from boilers to CHP plants.
"This year, the teams were given a case study related to the development of an optimal option for heat supply to consumers from four interconnected sources. When developing the task, the main emphasis should be placed on the safety and, most importantly, the reliability of the proposed heat supply scheme, in which it is necessary to close two outdated heat supply sources, and distribute existing consumer loads among other sources, taking into account prospective heat consumption and the existing reserve of thermal power. The teams also needed to complete a feasibility study of the proposed solutions and confirm that they would pay off in the medium term. According to all experts of this event, this year's task is quite complex, requiring knowledge in the field of functioning of heat supply systems, skills in conducting hydraulic calculations of heating networks, performing enlarged technical and economic calculations," comments Tatyana Korotkova, chairman of the CASE-IN expert commission, Director of the Institute of Energy and Automation of the Higher School of Technology and Energy Ƶ.



The decisions of the student teams were evaluated by an expert commission consisting of specialists from leading industry companies Gazprom Teploenergo JSC, TGC-1 PJSC, Gazprom Energoholding LLC, Flexible Technologies LLC and teachers from the Higher School of Technology and Energy of Ƶ.

A total of 14 teams competed for the victory in the qualifying stage. The entire podium of the winners at the end of the qualifying competitions was occupied by the teams of the university hosting the championship. The team that took the first place included students of St. Petersburg State University Andrey Antufyev, Anna Kholopova, Igor Plushenkov and Sofia Tyukhteeva. Their mentor was Ekaterina Gromova, Associate Professor of the Department of Industrial Thermal Power Engineering of St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise TD. According to the jury, the guys became the only team that developed new technical solutions for replacing pumping equipment at heat supply sources, and also considered proposals for the modernization of individual heating points of consumers.

The final of the CASE-IN championship will be held in Moscow at the end of May 2024. The authors of the best ideas from Russia and the CIS countries will tell the industry community about their developments, and will also be able to declare themselves to leading industry companies and master skills and competencies important for further professional development.
This is the third time the CASE-IN has been held at the University of Industrial Technology and Design. Ƶ is a two-time winner of the Energy of Education competition for the best organization of the qualifying stage on the basis of universities. Maxim Lipatov, Head of the Department of Career Guidance at the Higher School of Technology and Energy of Ƶ, oversees the championship at the university.


