Nokia helps Finland smart grid handle renewables

  • December 17, 2019
  • imc

Nokia aims to transform Finland’s nationwide smart grid so it can provide better support for renewable energy. The tech company is installing a mission-critical IP/MPLS network to help Fingrid, Finland’s national transmission system operator, digitalise and automate the management of its national power grid.
 
The smart grid will be better able to integrate variable renewables, such as solar, wind and micro-generation from bioenergy, seamlessly. The network will also support all current and legacy grid control applications including scada, teleprotection and current differential protection.
 
Fingrid will use the network to operate 120 high-voltage substations and control 14,600km of power transmission across the country. The smart grid is needed to manage the growing adoption of variable distributed energy resources, such as wind, solar and micro-generation using bioenergy.
 
As one of Europe’s leading users of renewable energy, Finland’s power transmission network is constantly being upgraded to meet the changing character of energy generation. Solar and wind generation, for example, require a much more agile and automated grid to manage the variable, two-way power flows by automatically ramping and balancing inputs and outputs. This calls for distributed energy resource management systems, which need a reliable, secure communications system to monitor, control, coordinate and manage distributed energy assets.
 
“We are committed to realising the potential of renewable energy generation and are embarking on an ambitious transformation of our national grid to make it smarter and more flexible,” said Kari Suominen, head of ICT for Fingrid. “Nokia’s IP/MPLS plays an important role in the digital transformation of our distributed energy resource management by providing us with a reliable, secure and agile communications system that has the potential to support all of our power management needs.”
 
Nokia’s mission-critical IP/MPLS network has been deployed by transmission system operators worldwide, supporting new grid applications along with other critical ones, such as scada, teleprotection and current differential systems, which demand stringent control of latency and jitter. This project is in partnership with NetNordic, a longstanding Nokia channel partner.
 
“Fingrid joins our long list of transmission system operator customers who are modernising their networks and transforming their businesses by embracing more distributed and renewable energy sources,” said Kamal Ballout, global vice president of energy practice for Nokia. “Through continued investment in our IP portfolio, we are able to meet the specific requirements of today’s energy market, helping them evolve their infrastructure for a more sustainable future.”