Transmission Grid and System Security

3/2014

Oyj Fingrid Corporate magazine Corporate

VALVE 2014 demonstrated the importance of practice p. 4

Transmission grid and system security

Prediction Turvapuisto: Aiming at keeps us an occupational safety disturbance-free 12 powered 18 training course 23 HVDC connections

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 1 12.11.2014 12.46 The autumn VALVE 2014 exercise saw the completion of a black start at the In this issue Petäjäskoski hydropower plant. This picture was taken from the plant looking VALVE 2014 turned out the lights in Rovaniemi | The unique exer- out over the lower course of the river. 4 cise tested how electricity could be restored using hydropower The autumn foliage was at its most from northern Finland in a situation wherein the main grid net- beautiful during the exercise in work has collapsed and left the entire country without power. September. Responsibility has been integrated into the core of business | 9 Corporate responsibility is a key part of Fingrid’s operations.

Continuity management is day-to-day work | Over the past year, 10 Fingrid has made action plans for seven threatening scenarios.

Prediction keeps us powered | Main grid construction and main- 12 tenance projects require transfer outages. Outage planning is like putting together a jigsaw, says operational planning specialist Corporate Magazine Antti-Juhani Nikkilä. Fingrid Oyj 17th volume 14 One year to go before joint-Nordic imbalance settlement | The 3/2014 new joint-Nordic imbalance settlement model between Finland, Sweden and Norway will be taken into use during 2015 and 2016. EDITORIAL STAFF Transmission line moved out of way of new residential area | Telephone: +358 (0)30 395 5267 16 Seven kilometres of transmission line were relocated in Oulu so Fax: +358 (0)30 395 5196 that the old line clearing could be used for residential and com- Postal address: P.O.Box 530, 00101 Helsinki mercial use. Street address: Läkkisepäntie 21, 00620 Helsinki Editor-in-chief: Marjaana Kivioja 18 Northern Finland’s Turvapuisto: an occupational safety course | E-mail: marjaana.kivioja@fingrid.fi Fingrid has its own educational checkpoint in the safety park. Editorial board: Eija Eskelinen, Mikko Jalonen, Jonne Jäppinen, Reija Kuronen, Katja Lipponen, 19 News Petri Parviainen, Tiina Seppänen Operational reliability Kainuu-style | In Kainuu, crown snow- Design by: Better Business Office Oy 20 loads are a common occurrence and cabling is under way, says English translation by: Ismo Reinikka, operational manager at Loiste Sähköverkko Oy. Mester Translation House Ltd No empty seats in the Operations Committee | Fingrid’s Opera- Published by 22 tions Committee exchanges ideas for development in good spirits. Fingrid Oyj www.fingrid.fi HVDC team aims at disturbance-free connections | Direct cur- 23 rent connections from Finland to Sweden and Estonia are playing an increasingly important role. The HVDC team works to keep the Change of address: connections free from disturbance. reija.kuronen@fingrid.fi Hoping for ice coverage all winter long | Kemijoki Oy is closely Cover photograph: Fingrid’s specialist Jani Pelvo 26 following the weather forecast and hopes that no frazil ice dams led the VALVE 2014 exercise by VIRVE telephone will form this year. from a management centre set up on Rovakaira’s premises. 28 New main grid contract steers the use of reactive power Photograph by: Kaisa Sirén 28 Grid ABC | What is reactive power? Printed by: Libris Oy, Helsinki Monitoring responsibility | Why is the state interested in respon- ISSN-L: 1456-2693 30 sibility? ISSN: 1456-2693 (Print) ISSN: 2242-5985 (Online) 31 Grid Quiz

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 2 12.11.2014 12.46 Preparedness requires cooperation

his year, the number one theme at Fingrid has In September in Rovaniemi, the Power and District been continuity management. In many work- Heat Pool held the major VALVE 2014 exercise in which shops and working groups, we have looked at the restoration of electricity was tested in a power out- how to act when different serious risks that im- age covering the whole country. The preparation and impact main grid operations occur. The main grid plementation of the exercise was a major effort, in which Tshould function and electricity fl ow under all circumstanc- representatives of many authorities and power companies es. Data systems must be in good condition, information participated. The exercise required a power outage in the must be transmitted and human resources must be avail- Rovaniemi region as, without it, it would have been im- able. As a result of the continuity management project, op- possible to get a suffi ciently reliable picture of how the erating plans and guidelines have been created for differ- restoration of electricity would work in reality. We spent a ent risks, and at the same time a long list of development long time considering whether the outage could be carried targets has been identifi ed. The key objective of the project out and how consumers would feel about it. In the end, we is to be able to act quickly in different situations: if a fi re decided that we would carry it out, but that we would try breaks out in an offi ce, a serious disturbance may occur to minimise inconvenience by all possible means. in the main grid or something else surprising may take The VALVE 2014 exercise demonstrated the strength place, which could not be originally identifi ed. Operating of Finnish society: effi cient cooperation. Different parties models should be learned by heart so that, in a real-life were very actively involved in the preparation and imple- situation, instructions do not have to be dug out from mentation of the exercise, for which warm thanks are some fi le or from the depths of a computer. due to all those who participated in the exercise and Preparedness for disturbances in the system and its preparation. People were openly informed about planning for exceptional circumstances are coor- the event in good time, and the exercise received dinated and developed in Finland by the Power much publicity most of it positive, especially in and District Heat Pool. The Pool is a largely the local media. The residents were very un- voluntary cooperative body of authorities derstanding about the power outage and and power companies with almost 60 years prepared well for it. of history behind it. The Pool’s key opera- Only by practising can we ensure the tions are different training functions and ability to operate in situations of serious joint exercises. It also guides and supports disturbance. In the coming years, Fingrid companies with regard to preparedness. will increase investment in different con- Of projects carried out in recent years, we tinuity management exercises and imple- should mention ensuring the functioning ment many improvement measures based of the water supply in power outages and on the VALVE 2014 exercise. pilot projects to safeguard the availability of fuel at service stations, as well as disturbance exercises. The Pool forms a natural forum in which different bodies can develop preparedness together and share Reima Päivinen their experiences. Fingrid plays a key role is Fingrid’s Senior Vice President in the operations of the Power and District responsible for power system operation. Heat Pool, as its chairman, secretary and the secretaries of the regional committees are all Fingrid employees.

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 3 12.11.2014 12.46 When Rovaniemi went dark

The unique major disruption exercise organised in Rovaniemi provided valuable information on the functionality of the power system in the event of major disturbance on the main grid. The exercise also succeeded in developing cooperation between various players and provided the opportunity to practice information distribution concerning major disturbance.

TEXT SUVI ARTTI | PHOTOGRAPHS TIMO PYYKÖNEN, KAISA SIRÉN

lectricity outages often come ern Finland in a situation wherein the simulated a situation in which the main as a shock. However, few peo- main grid has collapsed and left the en- grid is down and we are also unable ple were surprised when the tire country without power. The disturb- to obtain electricity from Sweden,” lights went off in Rovaniemi at ance exercise organised by the Power explains Fingrid’s Control Room Man- 9:15 pm on Tuesday 23 Sep- and District Heat Pool was the ﬁ rst of ager Arto Pahkin, who acted as op- Etember 2014. Rovaniemi residents had its kind in Finland and unprecedented erative manager for the exercise. “We been made well aware of the carefully in Europe. From a main grid perspec- especially wanted to test the use of a planned electricity outage. tive, the exercise dealt with a unique disconnected area, known as an island. The VALVE 2014 joint exercise be- situation: a black start. Previously we had only carried out tween power companies and the au- “Usually when disturbance affects theoretical calculations as to how to thorities tested how electricity could be electricity networks, electricity is avail- restore electricity using islands. In the restored using hydropower from north- able from the main grid. This time we exercise, we practiced creating islands

VALVE 2014

The Lapland Central Hospital, Suosiola power plant and healthcare centres in Tervola and on Sairaala- katu in Rovaniemi were all excluded from the VALVE 2014 exercise. The National Emergency Supply Agency, Power and District Heat Pool, Fingrid Oyj, Fortum Power & Heat Oy, Kemi- joki Oy, Rovakaira Oy, Rovaniemen Energia Oy, Rovaniemen Verkko Oy and Tenergia Oy all participated in the exercise. The disturbance exercise was organised by the Power and District Heat Pool.

Fingrid’s Control Room Manager Arto Pahkin acted as operative manager for the exercise. Fingrid’s communications officer Reija Kuronen also followed the situation from the management centre set up on Rovakaira’s premises.

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 4 12.11.2014 12.46 At 9:15 pm the lights in the city went out with just one click of a mouse.

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 5 12.11.2014 12.46 This is how the exercise progressed:

22 September 2014 | 5:00 pm

It’s busy at the Rovaniemi Scandic hotel. In just over twenty-four hours, eighteen months of preparations will peak in an exercise unprecedented on a global scale. “Even now we can say that this is a success. There are so many active players. The exercise has received plenty of media coverage and the topic has got people talking,” says Petri Nieminen, Senior Adviser for Power Systems at NESA. He woke up at his home in Haus- järvi at four o’clock this morning, but nevertheless intends to go for a run in the crisp Rovaniemi evening air. Tomor- row is a big day. The management centre closely monitored the behaviour of the island as 23 September | 12 noon consumption was increased.

Preparations are being made for the afternoon and evening at the management centre set up in energy company Rovakaira’s facilities in the Rovanie- mi city centre. Employees from Fingrid, and tested whether or not our calcula- to the disconnected area on the planned Rovakaira, Rovaniemen Verkko Oy tions were correct.” schedule,” says Pahkin. and Kemijoki Oy all know their tasks. Each connection planned during The practical test fulﬁlled its task in the exercise is written on a command providing information about the func- list consisting of over two hundred tionality of the power system which Use of islands lines. The connections must be car- could not be obtained through simu- put to the test ried out in precisely the correct order. lations and calculations alone. “We Rovaniemi shops have seen the sale knew that electriﬁcation using islands The idea of studying islands came of torches rocket. Notices of shortened opening hours are found at shop check- takes a long time. Now we know that about when disturbance caused an outs and on restaurant doors. Housing it takes a lot longer than we thought. island to form in Rovaniemi in 2009. associations remind residents that lifts It took longer than anticipated to keep Once more load was connected, the will be out of order during the evening, the frequency of the island stable and island collapsed and caused a major and hotel staff are informing guests of it was not possible to restore all loads power outage. the electricity outage.

23 September | 2:30 pm

At the management centre, twenty em- Black start ployees from various power companies are ready. Fingrid specialist Jani Pelvo initiates the exercise at 2:30 pm. Power plants with a black start fea- The exercise begins with the organ- ture are able to start up on a non- isation of loads, or consumption, in the energised grid without an external Petäjäskoski and Ossauskoski power supply of electricity. With the help of this feature, we are able to restore plant areas and in Tervola. Loads are voltage to the network in the event organised appropriately for the forma- of major disturbance. There are tion of an island. This will result in pow- several power plants in Finland with er outages in these areas before the black-start capabilities. They have actual black start and island formation. not however been used to practice The ﬁrst phase is to achieve a black running islands with weak network start, which means the generation of properties. starting electricity at the Petäjäskoski In addition, some of Fingrid’s re- power plant. Enough energy is produced serve power plants have black-start to start up the hydropower production capabilities. If voltage is unavailable machinery and increase consumption in Finland, attempts are primarily on the network in small steps. During made to obtain it from Sweden’s the evening, the island will expand and 400 kilovolt network. be supplied only by hydropower from the Petäjäskoski, Valajaskoski and Os- sauskoski power plants. Invited guests who came to follow the exercise visited the Petäjäskoski power plant before the evening’s exercise.

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 6 12.11.2014 12.46 “In localised outages which have oc- Exercises never go as planned, and 23 September | 7:00 pm curred in recent years, electricity has that’s what happened here.” Andreasen always been restored via the main grid, nevertheless admits that that is pre- Fingrid’s Communications Manag- er Marjaana Kivioja welcomes invit- never using islands. In cases of major cisely the benefit of the exercise; had ed guests to follow the exercise in the disruption on the main grid, we’ve re- it only been carried out in theory, the Scandic conference room. It is attended lied on our neighbours. The creation of results would have been different. by representatives from the city of Ro- islands within Finland would be one vaniemi, rescue department, police and option for restoring energy to the main the media, as well as management per- grid,” says Arto Pahkin. National system sonnel from participating companies. “There are corresponding islands in for forwarding status updates The evening begins with a panel discussion themed ”Are we ready for ma- e.g. Tampere and Helsinki from which jor disruption in Finland?”. Participat- it would be possible to provide starting One important task of the VALVE exer- ing in the panel are Chief Director of the electricity. Northern hydropower plants cise was to test a management system Lapland AVI Kaisa Ainasoja, CEO of Ro- however, play a key role in the security during major disturbance. A pre-agreed vaniemen Verkko Oy Kristian Gullsten, of electricity supply to Finland. Nuclear operating model and a joint connection CEO of NESA Ilkka Kananen, Lapin power plants, for example, cannot be plan, including transition to a back-up Kansa’s editor-in-chief Antti Kokkonen, Mayor of Rovaniemi Esko Lotvonen, connected to the main grid before the plan, worked excellently. COE of Kemijoki Oy Tuomas Timonen grid is sufficiently strong.” The exercise highlighted a key fault: and Fingrid President and CEO Jukka “The exercise provided us with lots there is need for a modern and stand- Ruusunen. of technical information we can use to ardised platform for status updates, improve our operations. We will study through which power companies and 23 September | 9:10 pm how the formation of an island could be authorities can forward on informa- sped up in the future based on obtained tion to one another. The lack of such a The island has expanded to Rovaniemi. measurement data and analyses,” says platform was brought up in discussion At the exercise management centre on Pahkin. The possibility of a black start several times during the exercise. CEO Rovakaira’s premises, Jani Pelvo speaks from Estonia will also be investigated. of NESA, Ilkka Kananen, was just one into his VIRVE phone: ”You may carry out phase 26, lines 106 and 107, at 21:15, but The exercise also attracted interna- of many who finds the current model not a minute earlier.” tional attention. Mario d’Agostini from problematic, since various players use When the clock hits 9:15 pm, the lights FONES, the Swiss Federal Office for their own individual status update sys- go out in Rovaniemi. City residents have National Economic Supply, arrived in tems. Kananen believes the need for a gathered on the banks of the Kemijo- Rovaniemi to follow the exercise. “It’s joint platform has already been demon- ki River and at Ounasvaara to film the interesting to see a country which can strated during severe storms. darkened city. The only spots of light in the darkness are car headlights and carry out such an exercise. In Swit- A management centre was set up on various advertisements, along with LED zerland this wouldn’t be possible. This power company Rovakaira’s premises lampposts along the street. Candles was a lesson for us, too. The exercise for the duration of the exercise. In the flicker in the windows of a few houses. demonstrated how challenging it is to event of real major disturbance on the In Rovaniemi care homes for the el- balance increases in production and main grid, the situation would be led derly, patient information systems are consumption in a situation like this.” from Fingrid’s main grid control centre still up and running, in contrast to the Peter Frost Andreasen from the in Käpylä, Helsinki. Fingrid’s President situation during power outages in the summer and early autumn. It appears Danish main grid company Energinet. and CEO Jukka Ruusunen highlights that work to improve systems has been dk followed the exercise with great in- Fingrid’s central role in the event of a success. Hospital beds powered by terest. “Just the idea of an outage actu- major disruption. “We should immedi- electricity on the other hand, cannot be ally being implemented is interesting. ately give an estimation of how long it moved manually and instead remain in At first I was sceptical of the exercise. should take to restore electricity all over the position they were in before the power went out.

23 September | 10:00pm

According to the plan, electricity should be restored now at the latest, but the city remains dark. Outside of the exercise area, at Hotel Scandic, the lights are on and the projector is working, but the view from the window is pitch black. Everyone is waiting. The electriﬁcation of the island is progressing much more slowly than expected. The management centre makes the decision to stop the exercise and move to the back-up plan. Rovaniemi is re-connected to the main grid. At 10:18 pm, two thirds of the blackout area is back on the grid and by 10:23 pm all of Rovaniemi has access to electricity. Restaurants were prepared for the electricity outage.

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 7 12.11.2014 12.47 Finland – not just to the main grid, but to restore power to homes.” During the exercise, Head of Prepar- edness at Lapland’s rescue department Ari Soppela acted as a contact person at the Rovakaira management centre. He believes that a corresponding operating model would be good in the event of real disturbance. “This was a good exercise in cooperation concerning information distribution with local electricity network companies. We could receive valuable information from the companies during real disruption,” Soppela adds. Nevertheless, he points out that a real situation is not the same as an exercise planned in advance. “How can we create connections to A panel discussion dealt with the topic ”Are we prepared if major disturbance hits Finland?”. large and small network companies and to municipalities at equal speed during real disruption? There’s room for improvement. In reality, disruption power companies and the authorities. 1999 when temperatures plunged to al- is highly likely to occur in connection At the same time, however, we saw that most 40 degrees below zero for almost with severe weather, such as a storm, in communications must be improved and a week. “Major disruption in that sort of which case the rescue department will harmonised further. weather would have been catastrophic.” also have numerous other tasks to deal Twitter, Facebook and other social CEO of Rovaniemen Verkko Oy Kristian with,” Soppela points out. media services have become a central Gullsten remembers that localised ma- communications channel. “Social me- jor disturbance wasn’t too far away, as Twitter and Facebook dia is undoubtedly a crisis communica- the peat trucks which supply Rovanie- play important role tion tool for reaching large audiences,” men Energia with fuel would not start. explains Fingrid’s Communications During the exercise, the City of Ro- In addition to technical testing, the ca- Manager Marjaana Kivioja. On Twit- vaniemi and the Lapland rescue depart- pacity for communication during dis- ter, the exercise was actively followed ment tested out their own preparedness. ruption was also tested in Rovaniemi. and discussed, with hundreds of tweets The City of Rovaniemi’s Safety Direc- When an outage occurs, people rapidly containing the hashtag #VALVE2014. tor Kari Tiermas is pleased that the want information on the estimated du- During the exercise, the Lapland exercise was organised in Rovaniemi, ration of the outage. “Just the knowl- rescue department also practised dis- despite it causing some inconvenience edge that something has happened is tributing information via social media. to residents. news,” sums up Antti Kokkonen, edi- “In the morning, we updated our own “In many ways the exercise was tor-in-chief of the Lapin Kansa news- Facebook page with information about a great success and significantly in- paper. the exercise and as the evening went on creased citizens’ and the city’s prepar- The organisation of the exercise alone we provided additional information in edness. Three quarters of the city, or has improved cooperation between the comments. The update was shared just under 30,000 households, were af- more than our usual Facebook updates. fected by the exercise.” We also shared links to local electricity The Lapland rescue department’s companies’ online press releases,” ex- Head of Preparedness Ari Soppela also Island operation of power system plains Ari Soppela. The Lapland rescue considered the exercise a success in re- department was already familiar with minding people to consider their own Finland is part of the Nordic the use of social media for distributing preparedness. “There are long traditions synchronised area, which means information because of real disturb- in Lapland of managing on your own, Finland does not normally have any ance. “Social media is just one more but in cities the situation is different, electricity islands. They can occur during disturbance, however, or a opportunity for communication, and its especially amongst young people.” conscious decision can be made to signiﬁcance is further highlighted dur- According to Soppela, Lapland has use islands for some other reason. ing real situations,” says Soppela. highlighted the importance of shared In prolonged disturbance, attempts responsibility. “Village communities can be made to create islands Look after have taken responsibility, and during using power plants which have storms, people look out for their neigh- remained operational during the your neighbours disturbance but whose electricity bours. Hopefully the exercise encour- production outside of the power Just how dramatic the consequences of aged more people to think this way.” ■ plant has stopped. major disturbance can be depends on the season. Mayor of Rovaniemi Esko Lotvonen remembers the winter of

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 8 13.11.2014 13.30 Responsibility has been integrated into the core of business

Nowadays responsibility work is managed at Fingrid as part of ﬁ nance and business development.

TEXT OUTI AIRAKSINEN | PHOTOGRAPH MATTI IMMONEN

t is by no means self-evident that an organisation under- stands the effects of corporate responsibility on a compa- I ny’s ability to create value for its stakeholders. Fingrid has wanted to make sure that corporate responsibility is at the core of its fi nance and business − an issue that is dealt with as part of the company’s operations at a board and executive management level. Responsibility work at Fingrid is headed by CFO Jan Montell. “It’s only natural for responsibility to be included in fi - nance and business development, since strategy work, risk management, operational planning and fi nancial affairs are all part of the perspective,” explains Montell. He fi nds the new model not only to be advanced, but clever in that responsibility is now present in all activities − whenever the organisation thinks about operations, strategy, risks and opportunities. “Financial and responsibility issues have often been seen “Impact must be managed throughout as opposing one another. It’s easy to make the mistake of the entire value chain” thinking that we can’t afford to develop responsibility if it jeopardises important and stable fi nances. We can achieve ajor issues relating to economic, social and ecologi- a balance by always thinking of the two at the same time,” M cal impact were fi rst systematically defi ned at Fingrid Montell adds. in 2010. Since the operating environment has changed, the strategic connection of responsibility has strengthened and Interest groups value success international reporting framework has been reformed, the decision was made to carry out a more thorough materiality Attempts have been made to make responsibility work more assessment. visible. The fi rst step in the three-phase process was to identify “If responsibility is on executive management’s agenda, it over one hundred potentially important issues relating to sends a message both inside and outside of the organisation responsibility. Then issues in the list were prioritised by spe- as to how important we consider it to be. It also makes it cialists in responsibility workshops and with a stakeholder mandatory for us to use time and money on responsibility,” survey. Finally, Fingrid’s executive management group vali- says Montell. dated nine essential responsibility issues. Responsibility is also one of Fingrid’s values which, “The entire value chain was involved in the consideration through investment, can have a positive effect on social ac- and Fingrid’s strategy was kept in mind throughout. The ceptance. impact of operations have to be managed throughout the “It’s easy to say that you’re truly responsible, but at the end entire chain, not just in our own back garden,” explains of the day our interest groups evaluate how responsible our Satu Vuorikoski, development manager who coordinates operations are. Impartiality and transparency are a couple of responsibility work. examples of what responsibility at Fingrid entails. We cannot Responsibility workshops were attended by 40 specialists simply pursue the interests of a single group,” Montell says. from all over the Fingrid organisation. The end result con- A recent interest group survey showed trust in Fingrid and fi rmed that the most essential responsibility issues are cor- revealed that respondents found the company’s operations rectly identifi ed in the company and that their management to be responsible. Indeed, Fingrid was also selected along is monitored through targets and indicators. with 11 other Finnish companies as a National Champion “Of course, we also identifi ed some areas where there was of the European Business Awards competition which evalu- room for improvement and development procedures are now ated corporate responsibility, excellence, innovation and best under way. I would like to take this opportunity to thank practices. The overall winner of the competition will be an- workshop participants and interest group survey respond- nounced next year. ■ ents for their effort and views,” says Vuorikoski. ■

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 9 13.11.2014 13.32 Continuity management is day-to-day work

Fingrid’s theme for this year is continuity management. During the year, the company has made action plans for seven threatening scenarios. One of the themes under investigation is cyber security.

TEXT MIRA MUURINEN | PHOTOGRAPH MATTI IMMONEN

any people might be lulled how we can restore “It´s important to mind that if a threat into a false sense of se- critical operations as should occur, all Fin- curity that electricity will quickly as possible, continuosly develop grid employees on always be available,” says rather than describe technical and site must be able to Fingrid’s corporate secu- in detail every single follow the instruc- Mrity manager Vesa Syrjälä. At Fingrid, threat we could im- administrative defence tions. “When the time continuity management is characterised agine,” explains Vesa and train personnel.” comes to act, we by the company’s social responsibility. Syrjälä. mustn’t be prevented Threats which affect Fingrid’s basic op- For each scenario, from completing the erations can endanger the undisrupted a workgroup was ap- action plan because availability of electricity and thereby pointed and began to work on instruc- we are missing a responsible person. can also endanger society. tions for preparedness. Forty people Exceptional situations require excep- “For example, major disruption re- from various sectors in the company tional procedures, which aren’t neces- sulting in a nationwide outage would participated in the workgroups and sarily in employees’ job descriptions. cost society an estimated one hundred in-house expertise was utilised widely. At that point it’s important to have million euros per hour. If Fingrid were Each scenario was worked on for a good instructions,” explains Syrjälä. to stop investing in continuity manage- year in four workshops, during which Another aim was to fi nd areas for ment, the risk would spread to others,” time threats and restoration criteria development which can be used to explains Syrjälä. were determined, existing prepared- help improve preparedness and mini- ness plans were mapped and the nec- mise the probability of threats occur- Universal instructions essary tasks were clarifi ed. Lastly, the ring. Plenty of ideas for development information was gathered into instruc- were suggested. Fingrid specifi ed seven threat scenarios tions ready for use. “There are some wilder thoughts and in connection with this year’s continu- “The aim of the project was to come big ideas, but also lots of suggestions ity management project. The scenarios up with universal instructions which which only require a change in oper- relate to threats which would exten- can be applied to many different situa- ating method or personnel training,” sively affect personnel, premises, in- tions. The idea was to update existing explains Syrjälä. formation systems or property. plans, and entirely new instructions “We set out to investigate the con- will only be drawn up if necessary.” sequences rather than the cause. The When putting together the instruc- most important thing was to fi nd out tions, it was important to bear in

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 10 12.11.2014 12.47 solutions and learn from them.” This autumn the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority awarded Fin- grid with a prize for the promotion of electronic communications, and the company’s information exchange operations relating to information security threats received special commendation.

Preparedness part of daily routine Vesa Syrjälä and Jyrki Pennanen high- light that even though the continuity management project will come to an end in late 2014, preparing for threats is a permanent part of Fingrid’s work. “Changes to the operating environment must be checked and selected scenarios Vesa Syrjälä and Jyrki Pennanen believe that continuity management should be must be evaluated critically. Something part of day-to-day operational planning. new can always crop up,” Syrjälä points out. Syrjälä and Pennanen believe the project to be a good wake-up call and What if information systems go down? operations will only increase. A sig- eye-opener for the entire organisation. nifi cant new change that Fingrid has “Many people who participated in One of the threats the project dealt with begun to implement is the digitalisation the project said that threats to conti- was related to cyber security. “We start- of operations. “Roughly we can say that nuity earlier felt like a distant thought ed with a total loss of all ICT systems,” ICT is the third phase after manual and since the probability of the threat ac- says Fingrid’s information security industrial operations. Through digitali- tually materialising is small. The proj- manager Jyrki Pennanen. In a society sation, we can look for an entirely new ect demonstrated that it’s not only the which relies heavily on the electronic way to utilise information technology occurrence of one major threat that transmission of data, the thought of a and use it to obtain added value for our can endanger continuity, but also the situation in which data communica- operations,” says Pennanen. simultaneous occurrence of several mi- tions or systems, even computers and At the same time, however, informa- nor threats can have the same effect,” phones, would be unavailable is outra- tion security challenges are also in- says Syrjälä. geous. creasing. “The world currently relies so “It’s hard to say what the greatest “At fi rst, a lot of people felt as though heavily on computers that if a major threat is when it comes to cyber se- if that kind of cyber threat came true, threat actually occurs, we’re in trouble.” curity. The most important thing is to we wouldn’t really be able to do any- That’s why it’s important to continu- think about how we can prevent vari- thing besides give up. However, that’s ously develop technical and adminis- ous threats from actually occurring. not an option for Fingrid, and instead trative defence and train personnel. Through the project, we’ve managed to the company has to fi nd a way to take “I’m really proud of how well we are form an overall picture. It’s a brilliant care of its tasks as quickly as possible.” able to take information security issues start to developing continuity manage- Pennanen is satisfi ed that the scenario into account in projects and in our own ment,” says Pennanen. was challenging. “If it hadn’t been so work,” says Pennanen. According to Syrjälä, the objective of challenging, we wouldn’t have been According to Pennanen, cooperation the new continuity management plan is able to fi nd out so much. The selected concerning information security mat- to make continuity management part of scenario required us to perceive an over- ters is at a good level in Finland, with routine operational planning. all entity and to come up with a critical thoughts being exchanged between e.g. “Preparedness is at its best when classifi cation system, and the order of Fingrid and other players critical to the it’s included in guidelines for normal precedence for restoring operations was security of supply. “In Finland, under daily work. Continuity management concretised in a really interesting way.” the Finnish Communications Regula- shouldn’t be a separate entity in itself, In the future, the signifi cance of in- tory Authority we’ve achieved a situa- but instead has to be an integral part of formation systems to commerce and tion in which we discuss problems and each employee’s day-to-day work.” ■

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 11 12.11.2014 12.47 PREDICTION KEEPS US POWERED

Outages in the electricity transmission network are planned well in advance in order for the outage’s effects on the electricity markets to remain minimal, explains Antti-Juhani Nikkilä.

TEXT OUTI AIRAKSINEN | PHOTOGRAPH MATTI IMMONEN

ingrid’s operation planners but they can’t yet tell us what that vance. Back-up plans are necessary have their work cut out for means with regard to the overall situ- especially in cases of long outages, them when there are major ation,” Nikkilä says. which can occasionally last in excess construction projects under of six months. way on the grid at the same We can prepare for surprises “We have to plan for what will hap- Ftime as maintenance is carried out pen if something else breaks during elsewhere. Outages must be planned Even though Nikkilä had to leave his that time, and how we can then secure and timed so that work can be carried home region of Pirkanmaa once he the supply of electricity in the trans- out safely, operational security on the graduated, he still feels lucky. Since fer area. Sometimes surprises happen, main grid is maintained and to prevent arriving at Fingrid after completing an but thanks to dimensioning and usage the work and outages from causing internship and diploma thesis, he has rules, we can prepare for surprises and undesirable price spikes on the elec- settled in well, even though his work we have operating models in place for tricity markets. tasks changed at the start of the year. them,” he explains. Specialist Antti-Juhani Nikkilä sees “I really enjoyed my old position Electricity transmission can be se- his work as a jigsaw with live pieces. working as a power system designer cured through e.g. changes to con- “It’s the dynamic situations which but I felt that now would be a good nections, load transfers or making use make this job interesting. It means I time to try out something different,” of the existing grid to create tempo- get to really challenge myself. When he explains. rary connections. It is also essential things change, you have to be able to Previously, Nikkilä would monitor to schedule outages and maintenance ﬁnd solutions, and quickly,” says Nik- the power system’s technical behav- procedures so that there is room for kilä. iour and plan and model the system, manoeuvre even if we fall behind In practice, there are always out- whereas now he has to react quickly schedule in some areas. ages somewhere on the main grid. to any changes in power system usage “Schedule changes are always seen In addition to routine maintenance, or if any disruption occurs on the grid. in major projects. It’s important that outages are needed when new grid is “Both the market situation and pow- we’re told in good time of the net- constructed. New cross-border con- er system operation conditions can work-related needs that various par- nections which transfer electricity to change rapidly since we have several ties will have. If we know well in ad- and from neighbouring countries also cross-border connections with various vance what work will take place in a increase the need for planning. countries. We are constantly updating given area, we are able to reschedule Even though computers take care of our own overview of outages and re- outages if needed,” says Nikkilä. raw calculations, they are no substitute acting to them if needed. Sometimes for the trained eye of a specialist. we have to be able to rework plans on Cooperation is vital “Computers can give us good an- the ﬂy,” says Nikkilä. swers as to whether or not there is However, we can – and should – On a rough level, outage planning can overload somewhere on the network, prepare for possible disruption in ad- be carried out up to several years in

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 12 12.11.2014 12.47 “My work is a combination of several things I like to do; calculations, analysis and the ver- satile use of various tools. I get to solve lots of great problems,” says Antti-Juhani Nikkilä, who works in transfer outage planning.

ANTTI-JUHANI NIKKILÄ Age: 29 Education: M.Sc. (Eng.) in power engineering, Tampere University of Technology. Career: Began work at Fingrid at things from a range of perspec- with an internship in 2008. After completing his thesis in 2010, tives,” says Nikkilä. he worked as a power system planning specialist. In early Schedules brought forward 2014 he moved to operation planning, e.g. planning outages. In the future, customers must submit Home and family: Born in information on their own work and Hämeenkyrö. Now lives in plans to the transmission system op- Järvenpää. In a relationship. erator earlier on than they currently Hobbies: Fishing, tennis, piano do. The aim is for Fingrid to be aware and photography. of all outages planned for the main grid over the upcoming year by the Motto: Let’s get this solved! end of the current year. According to Nikkilä, the act of bringing schedules forward is down to planned European network codes which would see future outages planned on a longer-term scale than they are currently. “Although European network codes advance. The closer we are to the pre- cially in major construction projects, won’t apply to all outages, important sent, the more accurate the plans are. since they may require long outages connections cannot be planned in iso- Fingrid must also have information affecting large sections of network. lation, and other network components on outages planned by its customers “We have to put our heads together must be taken into account. That’s in order to be able to form an overall with our customers to think about why we’ll need information on other view of the situation. how to use the network in the most network activity earlier on,” Nikkilä “It’s important that customers are reliable and efficient way possible. says. involved in transfer outage planning The core idea is that we try to find So what does a designer get up to and forward on information to us as solutions in cooperation with all par- when he’s not thinking about power to what actions are planned for the ties involved.” networks? electricity network in each area. In Operation specialists and designers “I like to fish in my free time. It’s order to ensure operational reliabil- visit the customer to discuss imple- a nice way to relax and lose myself ity, we need to be able to see the big mentation and map perspectives. in my thoughts. If I’m alone, I like to picture in advance,” explains Nikkilä. “The end result is formed through row. When I’m with friends, we use a Good cooperation is needed espe- deliberation; only after we’ve looked motorboat to fish,” says Nikkilä. ■

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 13

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 13 13.11.2014 13.33 Info and discussion events about the NBS project have been organised at regular intervals. The picture above was taken at an event held in Helsinki in April.

agement with adjustments ordered One year to go before from e.g. balancing power markets. At the moment, it is still the transmission system operator’s task to settle imbal- joint-Nordic imbalance ances, known as imbalance settlement, between itself and market participants as well as between Finland and neigh- settlement bouring countries. The NBS project will see this settlement become the task of eSett Oy, a new imbalance settlement The new joint-Nordic imbalance settlement model will company. be taken into use in Finland, Sweden and Norway during Imbalance settlement 2015 and 2016. “This is a sizeable project which will have to be centralised an effect on each and every player in the electricity market The aim of the NBS project is to har- industry,” explains Minnakaisa Ahonen, project manager monise imbalance settlement models and CEO of the eSett company. between the three partner countries. According to Pasi Lintunen, a member of the project group, the main prin- TEXT MIRA MUURINEN | PHOTOGRAPH MATTI IMMONEN ciple of the imbalance settlement at a high level will remain the same: imbal- ances in production and consumption will be calculated separately just like lectricity is a commodity which results in the formation of surplus or they are now. “In 2009, the two bal- is very difﬁcult, if not impos- deﬁcit. That’s why each electricity ance model was harmonised in all Nor- sible, to store on a large scale. market participant has to have an open dic countries, and it is still followed.” As such, the consumption and supplier which balances its electricity In the new model, reporting and im- production of electricity must balance. In such a balance hierarchy, balance settlement are centralised via Econstantly be in balance. Balance man- open supply chains end with a balance eSett. In the future, the balance respon- agement deals with maintaining this responsible party, whose open supplier sible party will make an imbalance set- balance of power. is the transmission system operator, tlement contract with a settlement com- In practice, it’s almost impossible for Fingrid in Finland, (at the top of the hi- pany rather than a transmission system electricity market participants to accu- erarchy) and its imbalance power unit. operator, and the settlement company rately plan and balance their electric- The transmission system operator is will also invoice the balance responsi- ity production and consumption. This responsible for national balance man- ble party for services relating to balance

FINGRID 3 .2013 | 14

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 14 12.11.2014 12.47 maintain and update the structural Nordic retail markets. Fact information of its balance responsi- Thanks to the project, operating con- bilities and submit them to eSett. It ditions for balance responsible parties The joint-Nordic balance settlement is also the balance responsible par- will be as similar as possible regardless (NBS) project was launched in 2010. ty’s task to report bilateral trades in of the market balance area. This will In connection with the project, the eSett’s balance settlement system. lower the threshold for balance respon- joint-Nordic imbalance settlement company eSett was set up in 2013 From a distribution system opera- sible parties to operate in several Nordic to take care of operative imbalance tor’s perspective, information to be countries. At the same time, joint rules settlement in the Norwegian, Finn- reported will mainly be the same as and standards will be created for the ish and Swedish market balance before: measured consumption, pro- exchange of information. areas. Due to Fingrid’s effi cient fi led consumption, measured produc- Fair and shared imbalance settlement operating model, the decision was tion and exchange measurement sums rules will facilitate entry onto the Finn- made to register the company in Finland. will all be reported to eSett. There will ish, Norwegian and Swedish electricity The project’s website can be found be some changes to practices, however, markets, which will also increase com- at www.nbs.coop. Materials such as and these are set out in the project’s petition on the countries’ electricity the NBS Handbook are available for NBS Handbook. markets. In the long term, the project download from the site. The reporting schedule will also will also reduce the costs of imbalance change from 14 days to 12.5 days. settlement in the Nordic countries. Another scheduling change affects As the European integration of elec- invoicing, which will change from a tricity markets progresses, the NBS proj- monthly cycle to weekly invoicing. ect is leading the way. “If the Nordic Reporting practices concerning ex- countries can harmonise the principles change measurement sums between of imbalance settlement, it will open up metering grid areas will also change. the opportunity for us to set an example Unlike the current model wherein ex- to the rest of Europe,” says Lintunen. management, such as reserve energies. change measurement results are re- The retailer will make a balance ported to Fingrid by measurement, in Complete contract with the balance responsible the new model these measurements in 2015 party in the same way as before. Each are combined to form a sum which is transmission system operator is still re- reported to eSett. Distribution system The NBS project has held national info sponsible for balance settlement in their operators can agree amongst them- days at regular intervals. “Events are respective countries. In Finland, this is selves as to who is responsible for organised often in order to keep the Fingrid. reporting. change threshold as low as possible,” Another clear change applies to the In practice, the move to the new explains Minnakaisa Ahonen. number of balance responsible parties. imbalance settlement model means Changes brought about by the project Currently, a single retailer has only an increase in responsibility for dis- are set out in detail in the handbook, been able to have one balance respon- tribution system operators. Distri- which is freely available on the proj- sible party. The new model allows for bution system operators are more ect’s website. “The NBS Handbook is several: a retailer can have different clearly responsible for balance set- the most comprehensive channel for in- balance responsible parties for produc- tlement-related measurement data formation. We also encourage people to tion and consumption, as well as for and its quality by metering grid area, send questions by e-mail or contact us various metering grid areas. since balance responsible parties no by phone if they fi nd anything unclear longer have the opportunity to check or ambiguous. We’re happy to help and Increased responsibility the accuracy of the information to provide advice, and then add the infor- for distribution system operators the same extent as they do currently. mation to the handbook to help others,” “This clarifi es the responsibilities says Ahonen. Open supply chains may remain the between distribution system opera- The project has received a lot of ques- same after the move to the new im- tors, retailers and balance responsible tions recently, which Ahonen believes balance settlement model, but the parties. Agreement on exchange sum is a good sign. “The project’s success is maintenance of their structures will measurements will require increased based on open discussion.” become the task of the balance re- distribution of responsibilities and The new model will be taken into ac- sponsible parties. The settlement negotiations with relevant parties,” count in stages: fi rst in Finland in No- company, eSett, will not divide im- says Pasi Lintunen. vember 2015, then in Sweden and in balance settlement at a market partic- Norway in February next year. “In this ipant (retailer) level, but will instead Joint-Nordic retail markets way, help and advice will be available carry out imbalance settlement by are making progress from all three parties if the implemen- balance responsible party level. Im- tation of the new model causes prob- balance settlement data is reported “The NBS project received support from lems,” explains Ahonen. ■ at market participant level and data regulators in Finland, Sweden and Nor- will be aggregated for the balance way right from the start,” explains Lin- responsible parties’ imbalance settle- tunen. The harmonisation of imbalance ment calculations. settlement is considered an important The balance responsible party will step towards fully-functioning joint-

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 15

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 15 13.11.2014 13.34 Transmission line moved out of way of new residential area

A seven kilometre stretch of Fingrid’s transmission line was moved to a new line route in Oulu’s Hiukkavaara. The move means the old line route will be available for residential and commercial construction. Some parts of the new transmission line are built on double circuit structures, where two 110 kilovolt lines run along the same towers.

TEXT SUVI ARTTI | PHOTOGRAPH TOMMI OLSSON

he request to move the line came from the City of Oulu. A residential area the size of a small town is due for completion in the former garrison area at Hiukkavaara. It was during the zoning stage that the decision was made to move the 110 kilovolt Pyhäkoski–Leväsuo transmission line out Tof the way. Oulu contacted Fingrid in 2006. It began a long process in which time had to be set aside for project planning and redemption permit processing. “The line is on the City’s land, so no private landowners were affected. The right to use the line area, however, must be determined according to the redemption process, and it took time for the matter to be processed by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy,” explains Oulu’s Head of Cartography Eero Keski-Oja. Eventually, construction was given the go-ahead in early 2013. By the end of that year, the new section of line was complete and old lines had been disassembled. Facts

Towers’ service life is at least 50 years A new section of line spanning 7 kilometres was constructed During the project, Fingrid’s project manager from the Leväsuo substation in a changed twice. During the construction phase, southerly direction. A new double Tommi Olsson acted as project manager and saw circuit line Leväsuo-Nuottasaari and Pyhäkoski-Leväsuo was the project through to an approved decision. Ac- constructed in the old Leväsuo– cording to Olsson, the long-term timescale was Nuottasaari line corridor. Three visible during construction work. kilometres of entirely new line “Over time, several plans had been made for the route were constructed along area, some overlapping. Sometimes other plans Vaalantie road. A total of 32 new towers were constructed, had been made for the transmission line site. As of which 25 are free-standing such, it took more time than average to deal with steel towers and 7 are guy rope the numerous changes to the construction plans.” towers. The line arrangements Just over half of the new line was constructed in were ordered by the City of Oulu. the old Leväsuo–Nuottasaari line corridor. A few Fingrid acted as builder for the kilometres of entirely new line were constructed project and Empower Oy was the contractor. along Vaalantie road.

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 16

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 16 12.11.2014 12.47 Existing transmission lines remained in use right Hiukkavaara until the end. The line which ran through the Hiuk- kavaara barracks area was dismantled once the new Hiukkavaara is a growth area in section of line was complete. the City of Oulu. The majority of Old wooden towers were replaced with steel lattice Oulu’s future construction will be towers, which have a signiﬁcantly longer service located in Hiukkavaara. The aim life than their wooden counterparts. “The towers’ is to make Hiukkavaara an urban residential area which offers its planned service life is 50 years, but it will be longer residents a diverse range of good than that before they need replacing,” estimates Ols- services in an environment close son. to nature. Hiukkavaara strives to Line arrangements saw the formation of a set of be a sustainable and energy-efﬁ- four transmission lines located close together, and cient smart district which makes use of ICT technologies. Accord- according to Eero Keski-Oja, that was a cause for ing to plans, the area could house concern even as early on as in the general zoning up to 20,000 residents in 2035. phase. The number of line routes in Oulu will decrease after one of the four transmission lines is dismantled this year in connection with Poikkimaantie line arrangements. The disassembly of a second line is also planned. “Our aim is to reduce the number of line routes in general,” explains Keski-Oja. Residents sent feedback about the change in landscape. The new towers are taller than the old ones, and the location of the towers had changed, so the landscape in the old area did not remain the same. Trees also had to be felled. On the other hand, the joint-tower section saves on space. “If you have two lines running along the same towers, the line route is narrower than it would be if each line had its own towers,” Olsson points out.

An exceptionally large project According to Tommi Olsson, transmission lines are rarely relocated. Modification work aims to take the needs of the initiator of the line change into account as much as possible. Modification clients are the public and private sector. “There have been similar projects elsewhere in the country, but rarely so large. Last year we moved six towers in Lappeenranta and four in Vantaa, but this project saw 30 towers moved, and that’s exceptional,” says Olsson. “When we receive a request to move a line, we listen to the customer’s needs. We see what we can do and what technoeconomic and land use-related restrictions there are. Each place is its own unique entity.” Line arrangements are still ongoing in Oulu. Oulun Energia’s and Fingrid’s 110 kilovolt lines are also being moved to new double circuit towers in another project under way in the area between Hiukkavaara and Maikkula. The line arrangements made it possible to construct the Poikkimaantie bridge over the Oulujoki River without any restrictions set by transmission lines. “In order to build the bridge, the nearby Oulun Energia line had to be moved. We noticed that we can carry out a second line project at the same time and move Fingrid’s old Leväsuo–Nuottasaari line away from the residential area,” explains Eero Keski-Oja. The project is in its final stretch and modification work on the 110 kilovolt lines between Kirkkokangas and Maikkula will be complete by the end of 2014. A third line relocation project is planned for the Saarela district, but Keski-Oja says that zoning solutions are still needed before it can be implemented. ■

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 17

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 17 12.11.2014 12.47 Anu Huhtela and Juhani Ahonen from Fingrid hope that Fingrid’s service providers will use the safety park to train their personnel. You can reserve a tour at the park Facts through Ahonen or Huhtela.

Pohjois-Suomen Turvapuisto is maintained by a non-profi t association. The association’s members include companies, associations Occupational safety and educational institutions who wish to invest in the development of occupational safety. Members training relies on power can set up a training checkpoint in the park if they wish. There are of experience currently around 70 members with around twenty checkpoints. Edu- cational facilities are not charged Visitors to the Pohjois-Suomen Turvapuisto safety park can a membership fee. The Oulu Uni- versity of Applied Sciences and the learn fi rst-hand about occupational safety in construction Oulu Vocational College both use the park to train their students. It’s and industry in a genuine environment. Fingrid has its own also possible to obtain an occupa- training checkpoint in the park to remind people how to tional safety card at the park. work safely near power lines. Learn more about the safety park at pohjois-suomenturvapuisto.fi

TEXT SUVI ARTTI | PHOTOGRAPH MIKKO TÖRMÄNEN

ohjois-Suomen Turvapuisto opened “I hope that the demonstrative pres- Checkpoints aim to remind visitors of in Oulu in April 2014 and its train- entations really reach visitors and get safety distances and precautions when Ping checkpoints demonstrate acci- them to think about their own occupa- carrying out construction, excavation dents or close-call situations and show tional safety,” says Airaksinen. work and agricultural or forestry work how the example task can be carried out near power lines. The signboards also safely. Fingrid’s service providers contain instructions on what to do in By the end of September, over 2,000 welcome to attend training the event of an accident. visitors had been to the park, and the “Machines collide with power line number is growing at an increasing At the joint checkpoint run by Fingrid stay cables or other tower structures rate. Project Manager Olli Airaksinen is and Oulun Energia there is a 12-me- every year,” says Fingrid’s Regional satisfi ed. He says that visitor feedback tre tall 110 kilovolt wooden power line Manager Juhani Ahonen. According has been positive. “People have almost tower with normal insulation, wiring to Ahonen, Fingrid’s own service pro- without exception said that they would and marking equipment. There are sim- viders should also visit the park, since recommend the tour to others.” ilar, though signifi cantly taller, towers construction and maintenance work at Many companies began to actively all over Finland carrying power lines. power lines and substations is a “de- use the park right from the start. “Our The wooden towers are normally 14–22 cathlon”, including all phases from member companies, such as Ruukki, for metres tall and steel towers can reach a earthwork to wiring. There are occupa- example, use the park systematically to height of up to 80 metres. Oulun Ener- tional safety instructions for all of these train their employees,” explains Airak- gia, on the other hand, has staged a phases at the safety park. sinen. scenario in which a tree has fallen on a “When working in the vicinity of A group of visitors to the park are fi rst medium-voltage line. power lines, it’s important to pay at- shown a thought-provoking video, af- Instructional signboards near Fin- tention not only to the lines themselves, ter which they are led around the park’s grid’s tower briefl y and concisely de- but also to tower structures and to the checkpoints by a specialist guide. The scribe how to work safely near power stay cables which anchor the tower to tour usually takes a minimum of two lines. The safety park guide provides the ground,” says Ahonen. ■ hours. more in-depth instructions.

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 18

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 18 13.11.2014 13.35 Maintenance contracts concluded – the present operators to continue

Fingrid has made procurement decisions on the basic maintenance of substations, power lines and its central warehouse for the period 2015–2017.

n the procurement, the share of quality points was 25%, By work area, the following companies were chosen as Iwhich meant that quality was signifi cant. In four work providers of basic power line maintenance: areas out of 14, quality points mattered to the extent that a supplier was chosen that was not the cheapest. Selected Häme-Uusimaa Eltel Networks Oy were the same operators that have also tended to these Southwest Finland Empower PN Oy duties during the present contractual period. The contracts Western Finland Empower PN Oy will be concluded by the end of November. Eastern Finland Eltel Networks Oy Northern Ostrobothnia Eltel Networks Oy By work area, the following companies were chosen as Lapland Eltel Networks Oy providers of basic substation maintenance: The total value of the procurement is approximately Eastern Finland VR Track Oy €6 million. Southeast Finland Voimatel Oy Additions have been made to the contract terms and Häme VR Track Oy conditions concerning responsibility requirements, the Uusimaa Infratek Finland Oy use of subcontractors and manpower and information Southwest Finland Empower PN Oy security. The contract terms also carry specifi cations of, Western Finland Empower PN Oy among other things, the performance and reporting of Northern Ostrobothnia Infratek Finland Oy waste management and safety requirements. Lapland Caverion Industria Oy Empower PN Oy has been selected to take care of the central warehouse for substation auxiliary equipment and The total value of the procurement is approximately €14 spare parts situated in Hämeenlinna. The total value of the million. procurement is approximately €250,000. The contract terms and conditions have been amended in terms of, for example, safety, company responsibility requirements and the use of subcontractors and manpower. Fingrid has also changed the requirements for its operator register. Suppliers must gain Fingrid’s validation to perform work in different fi elds of expertise and are required to improve their self-supervision, among other things.

Recognition as a promoter of electronic communications for Fingrid The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) has honoured Fingrid as a promoter of electronic communications, in recognition of the fact that the company ensures the security of its operations in an exemplary manner and is thus also improving national data security.

ingrid was honoured for increasing information The recognition for promoting electronic communica- Fexchange related to information security threats. The tions is awarded annually to a party that has promoted to award was also justiﬁ ed by the fact that, in its opera- a signiﬁ cant extent the development and spread of elec- tions, the company has promoted the open discussion of tronic communications in Finland. information security deviations and has thus enabled the generation of up-to-date and actual situation pictures. In addition, Fingrid’s operations have promoted the launch of FICORA’s HAVARO monitoring system in new organi- sations.

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 19

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 19 12.11.2014 12.47 Operational reliability Kainuu-style

Loiste is one of Finland’s biggest electricity sellers. Loiste Sähköverkko Oy’s operational manager Ismo Reinikka believes that good, regular maintenance work and active information distribution are of the utmost importance in customer work.

TEXT MIRA MUURINEN | PHOTOGRAPH MATTI IMMONEN

perational reliability has routes are cleared at regular intervals. always been an important We have an efficient condition inspec- part of Loiste Sähköverk- tion and repair process whereby lines “I hope for ko Oy’s network strategy. are toured at determined intervals and “We’ve made regular invest- any possible faults are repaired,” says good customer Oments in network renovation over a Reinikka. cooperation from period of more than a decade,” says “We’re also taking into use an op- Ismo Reinikka. erating method to maintain forests Fingrid, and that we Loiste (previously known as E.ON- bordering on line routes. We agree on can examine plans yhtiöt in Finland until 2013) is one of the removal of problematic trees out- Finland’s largest sellers of electricity side of line routes with landowners, together. From my and is active in all sectors of the en- of course in such a way that the land- point of view this ergy industry. The company was pre- owner is compensated for the felled viously owned by E.ON Nord Sverige trees.” has been a real AB but has been entirely Finnish- success.” owned since the start of this year. The Efficient company owns electricity networks in operational reliability Kainuu, Northern Ostrobothnia and in the Karhula industrial area in Kotka. It Ismo Reinikka’s career in the electric- serves 200,000 customers in Finland. ity industry began in Puolanka with a The large company maintains op- summer job as an electrical engineer, remote use project was launched in erational reliability through regular and later on as a substitute supervi- Kajaani’s main office and I got to network inspections. “Networks are sor. His summer job quickly led him to participate. And that’s how I ended inspected and maintained, and line other tasks. “In 1997, the MicroSCADA up here.”

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 20

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 20 12.11.2014 12.47 “The greatest challenges to operational reliability will lie in communications and “For example, we have an online service which each customer can use the related connections.” to see the current network status, fault history and planned outages. We are also developing a service which will allow customers to order information on possible disturbance and estimate duration by e-mail or text message.” Reinikka believes that the greatest the network be cabled in the near future. challenges to operational reliability “In zoned areas, outages may not will lie in communications and the re- last more than six hours. This means lated connections. As extreme weather that lines have to be cabled. We’re phenomena become more common currently doing so, and it’s coming and their destructive capabilities in- along well,” says Reinikka. crease, so does the risk of widespread “However, we don’t intend to cable disturbance. This means that commu- all lines. In population centres and nications networks are at risk. zoned areas, it’s the best alternative, “Problems in communications net- and the idea is to have all such lines works can delay fault repair. In the Ismo Reinikka was photo- cabled within the transition period future it will be especially important graphed out of his natural set out in the Electricity Market Act. to think about how to secure critical Kainuu habitat at the root of an There is no need for cabling in rural points on the communications net- old oak in the yard of Hämeen- areas, but it has been deemed worth- work.” kylä Manor in Vantaa. while to relocate critical connections, Reinikka is in his third year of mem- such as lines between substations, to bership of Fingrid’s Operational Com- road-side locations. The importance mittee. This year, he also hosted one of network automation is highlighted meeting when the Operational Com- in rural areas.” mittee visited Loiste Sähköverkko Oy Cabling helps with crown snow-load in Kajaani and learnt more about the problems, which are a challenge al- company’s operations centre. Later on, Reinikka worked as a con- most every year in the Kainuu region. With regard to the Operational Com- trol room technician and manager and “Over the years we’ve gained mittee’s operations, Reinikka believes now acts as usage manager heading a enough experience to be able to ac- that the opportunity to exchange ex- team of seven. tively monitor the situation. We begin periences and give feedback is impor- The Electricity Market Act which to remove frost from the lines as soon tant. “Since I live in the north, I’m not came into effect one year ago has as it looks like crown snow-load will actively in touch with members of the tasked distribution network operators accumulate. We also make use of heli- Operational Committee. In meetings I with new requirements for operational copters to pin-point problem areas. It’s ﬁnd it interesting to hear others talk reliability on electricity networks. Ac- well worth acting in advance rather of their experiences of disturbance, cording to Reinikka, the change in than waiting for faults to occur,” says what led to the disturbance, and how legislation has not had any signiﬁcant Reinikka. they reacted. The Operational Com- effect on Loiste’s operations. mittee is also a good place to com- “The new law has meant that we’ve Secure ment on new plans, share your views consolidated all our plans for opera- communications connections and try to make a difference in operational reliability development into a tional reliability matters. single folder which we use to aid oper- Good maintenance can be seen direct- Reinikka believes cooperation with ations. With regard to practical work, ly in customer feedback. “Of course, Fingrid has been good. “You can al- we comply with an operating model the better our operational reliability is, ways reach someone in operations and which has proven itself to be effective the less complaints we receive,” says they are always able to answer your concerning inspections, maintenance Ismo Reinikka. From a customer work question. I hope for good customer and upkeep.” perspective, Reinikka believes the de- cooperation from Fingrid, and that The act’s minimum times for electric- velopment of operational reliability we can examine plans together. From ity distribution outages during disturb- means active communication with the my point of view this has been a real ance nevertheless require that some of customer. success.” ■

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 21 13.11.2014 13.37 No empty seats on the Operations Committee

Fingrid’s Operations Committee meetings are marked by active participation. Meetings are held four times a year and are attended by representatives from the company’s various customer groups with thoughts and ideas for development exchanged in good spirits.

TEXT MIRA MUURINEN | PHOTOGRAPH MATTI IMMONEN

he Operations Committee deals with questions relating to the management of operational reliability and offers new perspectives on the de- Tvelopment of operating methods. “The committee’s most important task is to discuss topical issues and to share views. For Fingrid, the Operations Committee is an important channel for receiving feedback directly from the customer interface,” explains the committee secretary, Development Manager Jonne Jäppinen from Fingrid.

Valued membership The Operations Committee primarily convenes on Fingrid’s premises Members of the Operations Committee, from left to right: Reima Päivinen, Jonne Jäppinen, Jukka Rajala, Teppo Härkönen, in Käpylä, but this year it began to Mikael Heikkilä, Ismo Reinikka, Hannu Halminen, Teuvo Jouhten implement a practice whereby one and Erkki Tiippana. Pekka Pollari is not shown. meeting a year is held at a member’s premises. “The aim is to see things from the member’s perspective. Visiting oth- on the development of operations and ways examined before the cold season. ers’ premises helps you to see what operational reliability management. The committee’s work helps Fingrid issues are most topical to them,” ex- “The committee’s meetings aren’t at to develop its operations in a custom- plains Jonne Jäppinen. This year the all poorly attended. Seats are sold out, er-oriented way. “Committees are an Operations Committee visited Loiste so to speak!” laughs Jäppinen. Some of important channel through which to Sähköverkko Oy in Kajaani. the members change every two years. obtain information and feedback from Representatives from various custom- “There is some natural turnover as customers. We can use it to find out er groups are invited to act as members people change position or retire. Last which questions are important to the of the Operational Committee. Repre- time we had to draw lots whose turn it customers. Issues are often presented sentatives of electricity producers and was to stand down and give their place in the committee before they are set consumers, distribution network com- to someone else.” in stone and made part of day-to-day panies and industrial players are all work,” says Jäppinen. involved. Exchanging perspectives The committee is a place to exchange “This means that we receive feedback views and perspectives rather than a and ideas for development from as wide According to Jonne Jäppinen, topics of decision-making body. Jäppinen be- a sector as possible. We’ve also ensured discussion in the Operations Committee lieves that this also has an influence that members represent the entire cus- often follow the same basic structure. on the atmosphere at the meetings. tomer base in size and we have repre- Topics relate to e.g. the use of the power “Topics can be presented more freely sentatives of large and small players system, disturbance and reserve power than would be the case in contract ne- involved,” says Jäppinen. matters, outage planning and power gotiations or a decision-making event. For customers, membership of the balance management, as well as com- There’s simply an atmosphere of want- Operations Committee provides the munications and cooperation between ing to discuss topics and develop them opportunity to give Fingrid feedback Fingrid and its customers. The power together.” ■ on operations and to have an inﬂ uence balance situation for the winter is al-

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 22 12.11.2014 12.47 The aim of the HVDC team – uninterrupted interconnections

The signiﬁ cance of HVDC (high-voltage direct current) connections to the Finnish power supply has increased with the country being increasingly dependent on imported electricity. In order to improve the reliability of interconnections, Fingrid has established an HVDC team, which comprises the expertise of the whole organisation on the subject.

TEXT SUVI ARTTI | PHOTOGRAPHS ESKO KESKI-OJA

or a long time, Fenno-Skan 1 between Finland and Sweden, which was introduced in 1989, was the only HVDC connection between Finland and abroad. FDuring the last eight years, three more connections have been built: Estlink 1 was introduced in 2006 (put under Fin- grid ownership in 2013), Fenno-Skan 2 in 2011 and EstLink 2 in 2014. The significance of HVDC connections to the Finnish electricity market is now greater than ever. Because the completion of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear Members of the HVDC team Harri Nurminen, Patrik Lindblad, Anne Ventola power plant has been delayed and the and Jari Lehtimäki were photographed at the Rauma converter station during import of electricity from Russia has annual maintenance. declined, Finland is increasingly reliant on imported power. The Fenno-Skan connections in particular are running hot with electricity being imported into It is hoped that the team will strength- 1 has experienced no fewer than 25 dis- Finland from Sweden. en HVDC expertise and also share turbances. Fenno-Skan 2 has suffered “A disturbance in just one HVDC knowledge inside the team. “An HVDC 18 disturbances and Estlink 1, 16. connection has a direct impact on the station is much more than just a normal According to Harri Nurminen, many Finnish electricity market, similar to substation. Whatever kind of disturb- of the disturbances in the Fenno-Skan that of a large power plant dropping ance it suffers, its investigation always connections have resulted from two out of the grid, particularly if the con- requires more people,” says Patrik Lind- types of problems: those concerning old nection is in the import direction as the blad, a specialist in HVDC automation transformers and those stemming from Fenno-Skan connections have recently systems. instabilities in the new automation sys- been,” says Harri Nurminen, head of “We come from two different work tem. The former type of problem has the HVDC Team. areas and we verify our expertise by been solved, among other things, by re- ‘cross-training’. This is also necessary newing the Fenno-Skan 1 on-load tap- The team reinforces to ensure that we can stand in for each changer pressure relays, and the latter its expertise other during holidays, for example,” type should be resolved by a software says Antti Puuska, a specialist in local update carried out in the autumn by In order to improve reliability, the operations in the Uusimaa area. He acts ABB under warranty. 12-person HVDC Team contains per- as an operation specialist at the EstLink When examining a cable fault in sonnel from different Fingrid units. The connections’ converter stations in Es- spring 2013, the condition of the Fen- team’s key function is to improve the poo and Anttila. no-Skan 1 cable was found to be de- reliability of the HVDC connections, graded, and a condition study has just which is also registered as a strategic Disturbances under control been carried out on the connection. project at company level. The project by solving problems “The cable’s insulation has deteriorated is divided into five subprojects, which prematurely. At 25 years old, the cable improve reliability from different per- In the period between the beginning of is only ‘middle-aged’. For the time be- spectives. 2012 and September 2014, Fenno-Skan ing, the connection is being used at a

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 23

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 23 12.11.2014 12.47 Facts HVDC in the Nordic countries

HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) technology is the There is a long history of HVDC connections in the Nordic only alternative for laying long high-voltage cables countries. The world’s ﬁ rst HVDC connection was taken into under the sea. There are converter stations at both use in Sweden in 1954. At the time, the voltage of the con- ends of the cable, used for converting direct current nection between Gotland and continental Sweden was 100 to alternating current and vice versa. kilovolts and had a transmission capacity of 20 megawatts. The Fenno-Skan connections between Finland Nowadays, in addition to the Fenno-Skan and EstLink and Sweden connect to the Finnish main grid at the connections, the Nordic countries also have the follow- Rauma substation. Of the connections between Fin- ing submarine HVDC connections: Gotland (continental land and Estonia, Estlink 1 connects to the main grid Sweden–Gotland), SwePol (Sweden–Poland), Baltic Cable at the Espoo substation and Estlink 2 at the Anttila (Sweden–Germany), Konti-Skan 1 and 2 (Sweden–Denmark), substation in Porvoo. Skagerrak 1–4 (Norway–Denmark), NorNed (Norway–the Both Fenno-Skan connections and Estlink 2 are Netherlands), StoreBælt (Denmark, Fyn –Denmark, Själ- so-called classic LCC converters (line-commutated land), Kontek (Denmark–Germany). converters). Estlink 1, on the other hand, is a VSC NordBalt between Sweden and Lithuania is under con- converter (Voltage Source Converter), which uses struction and, according to plans, will be taken into use in different technology. Of the HVDC connections, 2016. Completion of the NordLink connection between Nor- Estlink 1 is the only one with ‘black start’ capabili- way and Germany, on the other hand, is expected by 2018. ty, i.e. the possibility to be started with a dead and Currently, the world’s longest submarine HVDC cable is de-energised main grid, although this property is NorNed, which runs 580 kilometres between Norway and only used on the Estonian side. Fingrid intends to the Netherlands. A connection between Norway and Great ﬁ nd out what kind of steps the introduction of black Britain is planned and would be over 700 kilometres long. start would require on the Finnish side at the Espoo Even longer would be a planned connection between Iceland converter station. and Great Britain, which would range from 1,000 - 1,500 kilometres, depending on where it terminates.

reduced voltage, which limits the power particular its special controls will be- concluded. Our aim is for agreement to 400 MW. Possible remedial measures have in a disturbance, and we want to templates to be ready and the whole are being agreed together with Svenska get additional verifications about this,” process planned in advance,” says Jussi Kraftnät,” says Janne Nästi, a specialist says Nurminen. Rantanen, a specialist in HVDC cables. in operations planning. For Estlink 1, in the past couple of The first stage of the repair is to lo- years disturbances have been caused by cate the fault. “By using a cable fault Teething troubles problems in the cooling system, among finder, we can from the shore establish in the EstLink connections other things. In the annual June service, the distance of the fault location from modifications were made to the cooling the cable terminal and the location of The EstLink connections are both still pipes, so such disturbances as these at the fault under the sea can be discov- new to Fingrid. According to Harri Nur- least should not happen again. Accord- ered using map information. A fault minen, EstLink 2, which was completed ing to Harri Nurminen, the problems caused by an external factor such as early in 2014, is ‘at its running-in stage’, with the cooling system were registered a ship’s anchor is easier to locate ex- and the supplier of the connection is as being the responsibility the previous actly than an internal cable fault. Di- still remedying ‘teething troubles’. In owner, which was also liable for the vers or remote-controlled submersibles October, the earthing of the ground ca- costs of the modification work. can help in the exact positioning of the ble section return cable was improved fault. Acoustic and electro-magnetic at the Estonian end. Owing to a design Quick repair sound locators can also be used,” ex- fault, the earthing was defective, which of cable fault plains Rantanen. caused two disturbances. As soon as we establish that we are Estlink 1, on the other hand, has One of the ongoing development proj- dealing with a cable fault, we begin to only been under the joint ownership of ects is aiming at speeding up the sub- make contracts with repair companies. Fingrid and Estonia’s main grid com- marine cable repair process. Repairing Concluding contracts can easily take pany, Elering, since the end of last year. a cable fault is a multi-stage process, four weeks. After that, how quickly the Fingrid and Elering are currently plan- which usually lasts for months. From fault can be repaired depends on the ning supplementary system tests for a perspective of the electricity market, availability of a repair vessel. the connection. “There are deficiencies each day costs money, so Fingrid wants Weather conditions also affect the in documentation and commissioning to do all it can to speed up the repair progress of the repair. A diver first tests, which we have been unable to process. breaks the cable and its faulty section influence in the construction phase. It “Before a fault can be repaired, it is removed. Once the repair vessel has is partially unclear how the link and in must be located and repair contracts arrived, both broken ends of the cable

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 24

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 24 12.11.2014 12.47 HVDC Team

Fingrid’s HVDC Team combines the expertise of HVDC connections throughout the organisation. The special ﬁeld of Team Leader, Harri Nurminen, is HVDC substations. Janne Nästi acts as a specialist in operations planning, and Patrik Lindblad and Jari Lehtimäki as automation system specialists. Kimmo Nepola is in charge of the series capacitors and SVC (Static Var Compensator) and Jussi Ran- tanen, HVDC cables. The team also includes local Fingrid specialists from South- west Finland (Fenno-Skan connections from Rauma) and from Uusimaa (EstLink connections from Espoo and Anttila). are lifted in turn onto the vessel and challenges. ”When the fault is near the Protection-telecommunications a reserve cable is fitted in place of the shore, the repair vessel must be small expert Pekka Lepistö, substation specialist Anne Ventola faulty section. enough. However, the cable weighs and local operations specialist Jussi Rantanen and Harri Nurminen so much that a very small vessel will Tomi Mantela are responsible remember that a fault in the Fenno-Skan not cope. In the open sea, on the other for Fenno-Skan. Kari Lundahl, 1 cable in spring 2013 was repaired in hand, a larger vessel can be used but Jarkko Hautala and Antti two months, which can be considered as the cable is deep down and the wind Puuska take care of the cor- quick. Then the fault was at Rihtniemi at can hinder repair work.” responding functions for the ■ EstLink connections. a depth of about 10 metres. Rantanen says that, depending on the location, fault repair entails different

Lines over Ostrobothnia

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 25 12.11.2014 12.47 Hoping for ice coverage all winter long

In autumn, hydropower companies carefully follow weather forecasts and the drop in water temperature. In an ideal winter, rivers freeze over quickly and prevent the formation of frazil ice dams which prevent the ﬂow of water and cause water levels to rise.

TEXT SUVI ARTTI | PHOTOGRAPH KEMIJOKI OY

ur goal is to have good ice cover on the plants’ adhere to the bed there. In a downstream current, the frazil upper pools and over the entire river so that we ice may also rise to the underside of the ice cover, forming can produce quality balancing power through- a slushy mass of ice crystals which can span hectares and out the winter. Of course, local residents also grow up to several metres in thickness. The frazil ice then hope for strong ice,” says Kemijoki Oy’s opera- begins to dam the flow of the river and increase the water Otions centre manager Erkki Nuortio. level upstream. When the water temperature approaches zero, produc- “Favourable conditions for frazil ice formation are espe- tion is steered to help the formation of ice by diverting cially found below the surface at old rapids. When super- water evenly over parts of the river which show signs of cooled water crystallises onto rocks, a dam begins to form ice formation. “We monitor the drop in water temperature from the bottom up and the flow of the river is slowed,” at all power plants. Freezing only occurs when the water explains Erkki Nuortio. “Other areas susceptible to frazil temperature is below 0.1 degree above zero, and as theory ice are stream pools downstream from rapids where eddies tells us, water only turns to ice at 0 degrees,” explains occur, meaning that the frazil ice can rise and adhere to Nuortio. the underside of the ice cover. The frazil ice leads to drop losses and in turn causes Frazil ice dams power and energy loss. “During a bad a problem for power plants frazil ice season, we can lose up to six metres of drop height along the entire There are good conditions for the for- Facts Kemijoki power plant chain. A difficult mation of ice cover when supercooled winter can decrease production by an water molecules on the surface of the Kemijoki Oy owns 20 hydropower amount equivalent to the annual pro- water gently “collide” with one another, plants. Of these, 16 are located in duction of a small power plant. That’s forming ice crystals. These crystals form the Kemijoki waterway system, the reason good ice coverage over the ice cover. If no protective ice forms over two in Lieksanjoki and two in entire water system with no frazil ice is Kymijoki. All eight power plants in it due to strong currents, cold weather the main channel of the Kemijoki an important annual goal for Kemijoki can cause water to supercool further River are among Finland’s ten Oy,” explains Nuortio. below surface level. This forms frazil ice largest hydropower plants. Frazil ice can also cause problems if which, due to turbulence, can be carried it accumulates on the power plant’s wa- to the bottom of the water body and ter screens, or inflow grates. “If super-

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 26

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 26 13.11.2014 13.39 Replacement for the ‘Iron cooled water enters the screen, it crystallises, adheres and glazes over the metal surfaces of the screen upon collision. Lady’ under construction An entire wall of ice can build up very rapidly in the water in front of the hydropower plant equipment. One autumn The Hikiä–Forssa power line project started we had to stop all machinery at the Taivalkoski plant be- in January 2014 is progressing cause frazil ice formed on the screens. The equipment’s screens were blocked and all the water bypassed the hatch. n the project, the power line between Hausjärvi, Hikiä Iand Forssa is being renewed and the old towers are being At the mercy replaced with steel ones. The line being replaced is part of of nature the Rautarouva (Iron Lady) line built in the 1920s. The power line work is located in the areas of Hausjärvi, Kemijoki Oy has used a frazil ice radar for a few years. Riihimäki, Janakkala, Loppi, Tammela and Forssa. In place At Kirkonjyrhämä in Rovaniemi, a radar was installed at of the line coming down, combined 400 and 110 kV steel a depth of 10 metres to detect ice crystals in the water. towers will be erected to make the use of land more ef- When the signal emitted by the radar hits the ice, it re- fi cient. Field towers will also be erected for the line, which fl ects back information on the amount of frazil ice and will enable the safer use of farming and work machinery any possible ice cover. The radar helps to monitor the right at the foot of the towers. situation, but the hydropower company is no less at the The Hikiä-Forssa power line joins the main grid at the mercy of nature than anyone else. Forssa substation, where expansion and refurbishment According to Erkki Nuortio, the formation of ice cover work is ongoing. The power line project will be completed only takes one to two weeks in a good year. Some years, by the end of 2016. however, it can take two months to form. Sharp fl uctua- tions in temperature complicate matters. “The worst thing is when there’s a warmer, rainy period after sub-zero temperatures and snow. That can cause small fl oods even in autumn, and the ice cover doesn’t stay on the river bed Test use of mobile and instead descends as ice fl oes,” says Nuortio. Last year was a good year concerning frazil ice. “There applications under way at was strong ice on the Kemijoki River, and Rovaniemi Fingrid construction sites hosted the Winter Swimming World Championships. “The winter before that, though, was diffi cult. We just couldn’t A new mobile application is being piloted get the ice cover to form. A frazil ice dam about four metres deep formed at the Jätkänkynttilä bridge and was at four of Fingrid’s investment construction over a kilometre in length. There was only a tiny crack sites. The solution includes different between the dams through which the water could fl ow.” applications to improve site occupational safety, project management and local Return to day operation monitoring. Once ice coverage has formed, the hydropower plant he application solution is referred to as T3 reporting, gradually returns to day operation, which means it be- Tand it is being developed in cooperation with Inte- gins to produce balancing power. “At night we primarily ground Oy. T3 reporting includes MVR-FGR measure- keep fl ows small and production is low to correspond with ments (which measure occupational safety levels), elec- consumption. During this time, the water levels rise in the tronic construction site diaries, notifi cations concerning plant pool above the power plant. Consumption increases dangerous situations, notifi cations of accidents, manage- in the morning when people get up and begin to go to ment review forms and an application to manage the sites’ work, and hydropower reacts to the change in consump- most important documents. tion. Production is increased and the plants’ upper water T3 reporting is a browser-based application which can levels begin to decrease again,” explains Erkki Nuortio. be used on smart phones, tablets and computers regardless The ice cover is also involved in the daily routine; it of operating system. It is being piloted at substation proj- rises and falls according to fl ow. The hydropower plant ects in Lavianvuori and Kangasala and in the Tikinmaa- powers on despite freezing winter weather. In spring the Lavianvuori and Hirvisuo-Kalajoki power line projects. snowmelt water is stored in “Finland’s largest batteries”, Lokka, Porttipahta, Kemijärvi and Olkkajärvi. But that’s a whole different story. ■ More news at fi ngrid.fi

FINGRID 3 .2014 | 27

fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 27 13.11.2014 13.40 Monitoring carried out New main grid at connection points

In accordance with the current grid contract steers the use contract, Fingrid monitors reactive power consumption by distribution of reactive power network companies and electricity producers and consumers both by connection point and by monitoring area. The main grid contract due to come into effect in 2016 Customers also have the opportunity will redeﬁ ne the principles of reactive power. Principles to monitor the use of reactive power hour-by-hour via the extranet service will become somewhat stricter as a result of the in Fingrid’s invoicing measurement change, but will also balance out. and balance settlement system. If reactive power limits exceed the limit set for them in a given monitoring area, Fingrid has the right to charge the connection point holder which caused ork on new reactive power tomer and grid planning specialist. the excess. principles has been carried out “Reactive power services are a part “In the current model it’s proven W in cooperation with customers of grid services rather than a new sales very difficult to show where possible right from the start, since the new prin- product. It is the joint objective of all problems in the reactive power area ciples must also be in line with custom- parties to be able to manage reactive come from. Whose fault is it if limits ers’ reactive power principles,” explains power in a sensible manner so that we in the area are exceeded but there are Pertti Kuronen, Fingrid´s leading cus- don’t have to charge for it.” several connection points owned by

This article series deals with the main operating principles, equipment units and components in the main grid. The articles published in the series previously can be viewed on our website at www.ﬁ ngrid.ﬁ .

WHAT IS REACTIVE POWER?

Reactive power is needed for the regulation of voltages in the transmission grid, among other things. However, reactive power should not be transmitted in the grid since reactive power transmission increases losses.

ower flowing through an AC network can be divided Capacitive components, on the other hand, store energy into two components – active power and reactive pow- in their electric field. Purely capacitive components are of- Per. Active power flows from generators to loads and can ten referred to as capacitors. If current is driven through a perform work at loads. Reactive power flows between electric capacitor, its electric field begins to increase and it takes a and magnetic fields as the current and voltage alternate in certain period of time for the voltage across the capacitor to a sinusoidal way, and does not perform work at loads. The reach its full value. In this case, the current flowing through AC network and the majority of devices connected to the the capacitor leads the voltage. As such, capacitors produce network require both active and reactive power to function. reactive power. In an AC circuit, energy is temporarily stored in inductive and capacitive components. Inductive components store en- Reactive power in the transmission grid ergy in their magnetic field. Purely inductive components are often referred to as coils. If voltage is placed across a coil, its It is not reasonable to transmit reactive power over long magnetic field begins to increase and it takes a certain period distances in the electric grid, since reactive power trans- of time for the current flowing through the coil to reach its mission increases the losses of lines and transformers and full value. In other words, the current flowing through the reduces the transmission capacity of active power. Often, it coil lags behind its voltage. As such, coils consume reactive is sensible to produce the necessary reactive power close to power.

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 28 12.11.2014 12.47 Current reactive power tariffs to be consumed. One reason for this is power system and who act in accord- an increase in cabling in the regional ance with the power system technical and distribution network. requirements set out by the Electricity Reactive power limits exceeded: The new grid contract will introduce Market Act automatically participate in EUR 3,000/MVAr a solution since invoicing for reactive the maintenance of reserves. (exceeding the reactive power power by connection point will begin In line with the current grid contract, window) through measurements and monitor- producers connected to the main grid ing. A reactive power window will be are reimbursed for maintaining reactive determined for each connection point power reserves. In the new system, this Reactive power: and the use of reactive power and in- maintenance will become obligation- EUR 10 /MVArh (of delivered troduction of reactive power onto the based. and received energy in the area exceeding the reactive power network must remain within these lim- “There are no clear, fair grounds for window) its. the reimbursement. If production ca- “Balance will increase if each play- pacity corresponds to requirements, re- er is responsible for its own reactive serve maintenance will not cause sig- power window,” explains Kuronen. nificant additional costs for producers. In practice, all electricity production different players in the same monitor- Obligation-based plants in Finland already participate in ing area?” asks Pertti Kuronen. reactive power reserves the maintenance of a reactive power re- Kuronen says that in practice no-one serve,” explains Pertti Kuronen. has been charged for exceeded limits. Reactive power reserves are used to Recently however, an increase in reac- support the system voltage during Preliminary tariffs to be announced tive power introduced on the grid has faults or disturbance at power plants at the turn of the year been observed whereas previously it or in the power system. All electricity was more common for reactive power producers who are connected to the The aim is to examine reactive power pricing principles this year. These principles will take into account the procurement and maintenance costs of compensation devices, losses caused by the transmission of reactive the location, where it is needed. In addition, reactive power power and the value of transmission has a significant effect on grid voltages. Since reactive capacity taken up by the transmission power and voltage are local quantities, the production or of reactive power. consumption of reactive power at a certain area in the grid “The new price is likely to be lower has an effect on the voltages in the same area. than the current tariff,” Kuronen says. The required amount of reactive power in the transmis- The amount of reimbursement paid sion grid varies according to e.g. load level of the grid. for reactive power in the future will For example, transmission line reactances cause reactive be clarified at the turn of the year. power losses, which increase as the load current on the “This means that customers have a line increases. On the other hand, lines produce reactive year to prepare for the change before power in their ground capacitances and the amount of the the new grid contract comes into ef- reactive power depends solely on the voltage level, and is fect. We have also discussed a tran- not affected by the load current. sition period for the new contract Since the variation of the loading conditions in the with customers. If a customer needs transmission grid is very large, the variation of voltages to make investments in order to carry at substations would also be large if the need for reactive out the new principles, a year might power was not compensated. The goal of the regulation of not be enough time,” says Kuronen. the transmission grid’s voltages and reactive power is to “It’s essential to include reactive keep the voltages within permitted limits in all operating power management in a network de- conditions. Normally, the grid voltages begin to fall and velopment plan made in cooperation the need for reactive power increases as load increases, with Fingrid, for example, in order to and vice versa. see what a realistic time for the im- Grid voltages can be increased by producing reactive plementation of compensation could power. Reactive power can be produced using e.g. shunt be. We will discuss this in more detail capacitors or overexcited synchronous generators. Corre- with customers during the autumn spondingly, voltage can be reduced by consuming reactive and coming winter.” ■ power. Reactive power can be consumed using e.g. a reac- tor (coil) or underexcited synchronous generator. Occasion- TEXT MIRA MUURINEN ally, special devices are used for reactive power compensation, such as a static var compensator (SVC). ■

TEXT JANNE SEPPÄNEN

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 29 12.11.2014 12.47 In this column, representatives of Fingrid’s interest group companies write about responsibility.

Why is the government also interested in responsibility?

n September, the Ministry of Employ- in which these possibilities have al- ment and the Economy made a pro- ready been tried out in practice. Iposal to the Government about the Procurement units like Fingrid national implementation of UN Guid- have also been pleasingly quick to ing Principles on Business and Human experiment with taking responsibility Rights. These principles deal with the into account in public procurement. State’s duty to protect and the respon- The procurement units have, for ex- sibility of companies to respect human ample, set contractual conditions for rights, as well as remedial measures. the contract period, which require The decision was made to begin na- the employment of young people, the tional implementation based on the disabled or long-term unemployed or proposal presented, but why are such the observance of occupational and programmes needed? Many may pon- human rights in goods or food pro- der on, for example, the responsibility duction taking place abroad. There are of the energy industry that as long as also positive experiences of involving power comes out of electrical sockets customers as early as the procurement at a reasonable price, everything is all LINDA PIIRTO planning stage. Other ways of taking right. The author is in charge of the advantage of social perspectives are For the State, the duty to protect preparation of social responsibility suitability conditions concerning the policy at the Ministry of human rights means many differ- Employment and the Economy. supplier, minimum requirements for ent measures aimed at ensuring that, the object of procurement, for exam- within its jurisdiction, human rights ple in relation to accessibility and, are respected, including in business. At with certain preconditions, also bid the same time, the State must ensure that, if infringements comparison principles. do, however, occur, they are dealt with and any damage So there is indeed a selection of ways to promote re- caused is rectified. sponsibility. Perhaps a greater challenge in Finland is the In practice, the State’s means to take care of this ob- fact that our society is so developed and many things can ligation are divided into three groups: legislation and its be expected to happen almost automatically. For us, when implementation, means of legal protection and the identifi- we plug an appliance into the grid we do not usually have cation of all the functions by which the State deals directly to think about whether there will be power, whether the with companies. In the latter case, the State may, through main grid towers are still standing or whether the grid has its own activity, ensure that responsibility issues are taken been built of materials safe for the consumer or for the into account. Opportunities for this can be found, for ex- company’s personnel. The same process of taking things for ample, in public procurement, public financial institutions granted can be applied to most of the goods and services and state ownership steering. that we use every day. Of these, responsible public procurement has been Perhaps here, both the public and private sectors still particularly emphasised at the Ministry of Employment and have a possible opportunity: we could tell others more of- the Economy. Last year, the ministry published a guide to ten what we are doing, why we are doing it and what we socially responsible procurement, which explains how is- hope to achieve by it. That way, we could show that re- sues of responsibility can be taken into account at each sponsibility means the choices that we make every day, by stage of procurement from planning to the actual contract which we aspire to a society that is predictable in a good period. In connection with the different stages of the pro- way. ■ curement process, examples of units carrying out public procurement gathered from all over Finland are presented,

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 30 12.11.2014 12.47 Q

Answer the questions below and send your reply by fax (number +358 (0)30 395 5196) or mail to Fingrid no later than 31 January 2015. Address: Fingrid Oyj, PL 530, 00101 HELSINKI, FINLAND. Mark the envelope with ”Grid Quiz”. Participants have the chance to win 3 mixes of three spices each. Answers to the questions can be found in this issue.

1. What was tested in the VALVE 2014 exercise? The possibility of acquiring starting electricity from the Swedish 400 kV grid. The capability of the main grid to transmit electricity in a situation where the hydropower plants in northern Finland are unavailable. Restoring electricity to the main grid using hydropower from northern Finland in a situation where the main grid has collapsed and left the entire country without power.

2. When will the joint-Nordic balance settlement 5. The longest submarine HVDC connection in the be taken into use in Finland? world, at the moment, is between which countries? November 2015 Iceland and Great Britain March 2016 Norway and Great Britain November 2016 Norway and the Netherlands

3. What is the name of the VALVE 2014 exercise 6. Where is the Pohjois-Suomen Turvapuisto safety an abbreviation for? park located? Valtakunnallinen vesivoimaharjoitus (national In Oulu hydropower exercise) In Rovaniemi Valot verkkoon (light to the grid) In Kemi Valveilla ympäri vuorokauden (Awake around the clock) 7. How is frazil ice formed in a river? In very low temperatures, the ice cover 4. In which year was the ﬁrst HVDC connection becomes so thick that it reaches the riverbed. in Finland, Fenno-Skan 1, taken into use? Water supercools below the surface layer and 1975 adheres to the riverbed or under the ice cover. 1989 The water surface rises so high that snow on 1996 the banks is mixed into the water.

Prizes for the previous Grid Quiz (2/2014) have been sent to the following winners who answered correctly: Seija Lohikoski, Espoo; Joni Parkkinen, Toijala; Sami Rinne, Helsinki.

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fingrid_3_2014_ENG.indd 31 12.11.2014 12.47 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This year we are supporting the construction of a new children’s hospital with the money we’ve reserved for sending Christmas greetings.

FINGRID OYJ

P.O. Box 530, FI-00101 Helsinki • Tel. +358 30 395 5000 • Fax +358 30 395 5196 • www.ﬁngrid.ﬁ

Helsinki Hämeenlinna Oulu Petäjävesi Varkaus Läkkisepäntie 21 Valvomotie 11 Lentokatu 2 Sähkötie 24 Wredenkatu 2 FI-00620 Helsinki FI-13110 Hämeenlinna FI-90460 Oulunsalo FI-41900 Petäjävesi FI-78250 Varkaus Finland Finland Finland Finland Finland Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Fax +358 30 395 5196 Fax +358 30 395 5336 Fax + 358 30 395 5711 Fax +358 30 395 5524 Fax +358 30 395 5611

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