New contract: Smart Meter Insight to become part of Tensio’s day-to-day operations
In recent years, we have collaborated with Tensio on an R&D project to optimize and further develop SafeMon Smart Meter Insight. Recently we signed an extended contract, bringing Smart Meter Insight and Management into Tensio’s day-to-day operations. The grid company is now looking forward to streamlining operations and significantly reducing costs.
“Adopting SafeBase’s technology in day-to-day operations gives us great financial benefits,” says Roar Skauge, Head of Meters and Operations at Tensio. Skauge provides a dramatic example of the savings.
“When the solution was still in the testing phase, we experienced a failure at a substation. In the aftermath of the incident, we entered the system and saw that SafeMon notified of an upcoming overload as early as six weeks before the error occurred. The accident resulted in an additional cost of NOK 400,000, which could have been avoided if SafeMon Smart Meter Insight had been part of day-to-day operations at the time – maintenance would then have been done in advance.”
15 billion metrics
Tensio has already implemented SafeMon Advanced Substation Monitoring into its operations. Now that the Smart Meter applications are being fully introduced, the grid company is getting much better control over the power quality delivered to the 175 000 smart meters.
“The AMS meters give us far more than just consumption data. The consumption data is around two billion metrics each year. The Nettnytte application collects fifteen billion metrics annually. SafeMon is quite simply a large number cruncher that assembles all this data in a way that gives us insight to operate proactively and more profitably,” adds Skauge.
Reports must be available virtually immediately
The combination of Substation Monitoring and Smart Meter Insight was particularly beneficial for the grid company when the storm Gyda ravaged Trøndelag earlier this winter.
“During the storm, we monitored the grid in parallel with the repairmen being out in the field, to make sure that the meters reported the same thing that the technicians found. During such a storm, we rely on reports of faults to be generated a maximum of one minute after the failure, if we are to be ahead of events and thus save repair costs,” says Skauge, and continues:
“This is exactly where we experience that SafeBase delivers so well. They process huge amounts of data in real time and have been a very good partner for us. Their experience from the telecom industry, where they monitor the GSM stations, is quite similar to monitoring substations. This means that SafeBase already knows the processes in our industry, while at the same time they provide us with expertise on big data.”
A unique opportunity for insight
Undesirable grid incidents can occur at any time, even when extreme weather has not been forecast. Since they now monitor the grid in real time, the grid company has a unique opportunity to make better decisions more quickly than before.
“Those who keep watch are stationed centrally in Trondheim, and it is impossible for them to know if there are voltage problems in a building far away from their location without such a tool. On the customer side alone, there are thousands of measuring points, and Trøndelag is a large geographical area. SafeMon gives us the opportunity to constantly monitor that we are actually delivering what we must,” concludes Skauge.
With the new agreement in place, SafeBase’s delivery to Tensio includes a number of applications in SafeMon as well as measuring instruments that operate and monitor sensors in both high and low-voltage networks, including transformer stations and substations.
We thank you for your trust and cooperation thus far and look forward to the future!