At the traditional Jožef Stefan Days, which have been taking place since 1993, the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) awarded ELES, mag. Uroš Salobir, Director of the Strategic Innovation Department at ELES, and Dr. Janko Kosmač, Head of the ELES Process Systems Service, the honorary distinction for a successful business partnership in the transfer of scientific and technological achievements and knowledge of the Institute to the social and economic hinterland at home and abroad.
In 2018, at the initiative of ELES, cooperation in the field of preventing icing on phase conductors was extended to solving challenges related to the dynamic thermal assessment of the transmission capacity of overhead lines. Experts from the JSI Department of Communication Systems, in cooperation with ELES, first developed a module for calculating the minimum operating currents for maintaining the surface temperature of the conductor above freezing. The second module, which was developed in collaboration with the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute, enables the calculation of the permissible current loads of the conductor. Both modules are in regular use, achieve high reliability and industrial level of use, and thus represent a product that can be marketed internationally. In 2018, the software for the classic DTR calculation was integrated into the DiTeR package, which won the ELES tender for the operational dynamic assessment of the Slovenian transmission network.
Among the award-winning individuals from ELES were Dr. Janko Kosmač, Head of the Process Systems Department and mag. Uroš Salobir, Director of the Strategic Innovation Department. In the introductory presentation of the cooperation, mag. Uroš Salobir explained that the relation with the Jožef Stefan Institute is extremely important, especially due to the achievement of the so-called points of innovation action, where innovation is focused primarily on direct effects and the realization of the vision in the field of energy. Dr. Janko Kosmač further pointed out that the initial cooperation was based on the idea of using the load of the transmission line to prevent icing on power lines and subsequently extending the idea to cooling the conductor in a wide area of wind conditions, focusing on natural convection. JSI experts have developed a special numerical model for this area, the correctness of which has also been confirmed by laboratory measurements.
Dr. Uroš Kerin, Assistant Director of ELES Funds and Projects Management, and Head of the Research and Scientific Council, received the honorary distinction on behalf of ELES. In his introductory speech, he emphasized that ELES, in cooperation with all stakeholders, wants to build strong links between science and the economy, which would continue to motivate and encourage mutual transfer and exchange of knowledge.