With the assistance of an industrial partner, Sevastopol State University is creating a testing facility to work on practical skills in the design, operation and control of digital distributed electrical networks. This was said by the Vice-Rector for Development, Research and Innovation, Maxim Evstigneev. “There are no such analogs in Russian Universities. At the testing facility, innovative equipment and promising technologies to eliminate damage in distribution networks will be applied. This is not yet available is actual practice, so the competencies that students and staff will receive are unique: such as the ability to create mathematical models of the network in special software and optimize them in terms of reliability, quality, availability and cost. Practical skills in eliminating network malfunctions and repairing equipment will also become part of the training, ”said Evstigneev. The testing facility is essentially a reduced network model. “To make everything real, a transformer substation and switchgear will be installed at the testing facility, simulating power sources, overhead power transmission towers and consumer loads. Automatic and manual switching devices are installed on overhead line supports to configure the network of any desired topology. The testing facility simulates the physical processes and operation of the equipment of the distribution network without the supply of real currents and voltages, which ensures the safety of students, ”Yevstigneev explained. Last year at Sevastopol State University a department ‘Intelligent Power Supply Systems’ was created within the framework of ‘EnergyNet’, as well as the first recruitment to the magistracy ‘Intelligent Power Supply Networks’. Practical and laboratory studies of master’s students will be held at the site. Courses of additional professional education and advanced training for employees of power grid companies in Russia will also be held there. In addition, the facility will act as a platform for refining new technologies for digital distributed electrical networks.The first phase of construction is scheduled for completion in June 2019, and from September they will begin to use the testing facility in the educational process. The project is being implemented at the expense of the industrial partner.