Digital Control Layer for District Heating: Rosatom Is Turning Oryol into a Smart City
Rosatom Infrastructure Solutions (RIR) has begun deploying the Tsifrovoye teplosnabzheniye (Digital Heat Supply) automated information system across Oryol's district heating network. The rollout will create a unified digital control layer for the city's heating infrastructure and significantly improve its reliability.
The automated system developed by RIR is designed to monitor, dispatch, and analyze district heating operations. It will cover 317 kilometers of Oryol's heating networks and 60 central heating substations.
Engineers from the Oryol branch of JSC RIR Energo are currently installing sensors and telemetry equipment that will transmit operational data to a central dispatch center. The incoming data will be processed by the Infrastrukturnaya IoT-platforma (Infrastructure IoT Platform), which collects telemetry and generates both actual and calculated heat carrier and thermal energy balance models, tracing distribution from a combined heat and power plant or boiler house to the end user. The platform identifies leaks, heat losses, network bottlenecks, and service quality issues across the entire system in real time. When operating parameters deviate from preset values, the system automatically alerts dispatchers. That allows operators to respond more quickly to abnormal conditions, significantly reducing the likelihood of service disruptions.
For Oryol residents, the platform will deliver tangible benefits through faster incident response and preventive maintenance, resulting in more reliable heating service. For the utility operator, it is expected to reduce operating costs substantially.
From Oryol to Other Cities: Scaling the Platform
The next stage of the project focuses on replicating the experience gained in Oryol. RIR has already deployed digital district heating solutions in Voronezh, Lipetsk, Kurchatov, and Obninsk. In those cities, Tsifrovoye teplosnabzheniye and Infrastrukturnaya IoT-platforma have automated up to 80% of dispatching operations while reducing energy consumption and lowering the risk of failures across district heating networks. The platforms developed by RIR can be used not only within the company's own heating infrastructure but also by other district heating providers.
Although Russia remains the primary market for RIR's solutions, they also have export potential in partner countries with similar district heating infrastructure.
From Pilot Projects to Large-Scale Deployment: The Evolution of Tsifrovoye teplosnabzheniye
Rosatom Infrastructure Solutions first announced development of the Tsifrovoye teplosnabzheniye system in 2021. The combined hardware and software platform entered the market in 2022, initially offering only part of its planned functionality. That same year, RIR launched pilot projects in Voronezh, Lipetsk, and Kurchatov.
Beginning in 2023, the company expanded the platform to support thermal system modeling through digital twins created for individual facilities. By 2024, RIR engineers had moved to active deployment of artificial intelligence algorithms and predictive analytics. During 2024-2025, digital district heating technologies were also rolled out extensively in Kurchatov and Obninsk.
The successful deployment of Infrastrukturnaya IoT-platforma and Tsifrovoye resursosnabzheniye (Digital Utility Resource Management) has demonstrated that Russian-developed software can address the industry's full range of operational requirements while replacing foreign platforms.
Unified Digital Infrastructure
The launch of the Oryol project shows that Rosatom Infrastructure Solutions is moving beyond pilot programs toward large-scale deployment of its digital systems across Russian cities. Today, the company's division provides energy services in 16 regions of Russia.
The company's accumulated experience demonstrates that digitalization of energy infrastructure delivers measurable benefits, from more efficient use of resources to significantly more reliable district heating services. At the same time, domestically developed technologies are capable of fully replacing comparable imported solutions.
