Increasing the efficiency and reliability of the process of production, transmission and distribution of electric energy is impossible without automation of technological processes. Therefore, the issue of automation of the power system has always been acute in the energy sector of Ukraine. In this regard, in 2003, the Department of “Automation of Power Systems” was established, which separated from the Department of “Power Plants” and began to train and graduate bachelors, specialists and masters in the specialty “Control Systems for the Production and Distribution of Electricity”. The first head of the department was Volodymyr Ulyanovich Kyzylov, who introduced many new courses such as “Modern Problems of Energy”, “Modern Mathematics in Energy” and “Fundamentals of Technical Creativity”. The content of these disciplines includes materials that are not found in textbooks and manuals, which can only be learned from scientific and technical literature, specialized journals, patents, presentations of companies and organizations. Volodymyr Ulyanovich was the author of many developments of automation devices that were introduced into mass production, he was the first in the history of the university to be awarded the honorary title “Honored Inventor of Ukraine”.
Since 2004, the department has been headed by Oleksandr Khaimovich Gorelyk, who was also the director of the Kharkiv Research Institute of Complex Automation.
In 2010, the position of head of the department was taken by Professor Oleg Gerasymovych Hryb, who in 2013 became the Laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of science and technology for the work “Automated system of accounting for electric energy with control of quality indicators”. Oleg Gerasymovych is the author of more than 350 scientific works, a number of doctoral and candidate theses were defended under his supervision.
In 2017, the department changed its name to “Automation and Cybersecurity of Power Systems” and opened the specialty “Cybersecurity Technologies in Electric Power Industry”, in which it trains both bachelors and masters.
Since June 2021, the department has been headed by Gapon Dmytro Anatoliyovych, who is a Doctor of Technical Sciences and a specialist in the field of digital energy.
As of January 1, 2025, the scientific and pedagogical staff of the department includes 5 doctors of sciences and 4 candidates of sciences.