With over 500,000 customers, they supply electricity to almost all Estonian households and companies. The distribution network contains more than 60,000 kilometers of power lines and 24,000 substations across Estonia.
A big part of the network was built in the 1970s and 80s. Since then, Elektrilevi has invested hundreds of millions of euros in the aging network. This has improved the quality of distribution and customers now experience significantly fewer unplanned power outages, states Elektrilevi.
Network planning team utilizes Trimble NIS
Marti Laidre is the Head of a Network Planning team that helps delivering the utility's promises. The team works in the Asset Management division, with the responsibility for both short and long-term planning and development of the network. The network planning team of about 30 planners, analysts and engineers is divided between Elektrilevi’s main offices in Tallinn and Tartu and a number of branch offices around Estonia.
Elektrilevi manages the whole life cycle of network planning with a software solution for electric utilities. Over the years, Elektrilevi has built a digital twin of their network and added new software modules in their network information system Trimble NIS. The Network Planning team is working in a common Trimble NIS environment and can effectively co-operate on projects regardless of their office location, taking advantage of the expertise of the whole team.
− We have had the network data in the Trimble NIS database since 1999. All analysis and planning in the network is done with the network information system’s tools, says Laidre, and continues
− Trimble NIS is like a collective consciousness for the team. In total, Elektrilevi has about 20 on-going investment programs. The most important ones concern network reliability, safety and compliance to regulations.
Reliability-based analysis helps in comparing investment scenarios
Network planning at Elektrilevi relies on data extracted from the network with Trimble’s network analysis tools: Reliability-based Network Analysis (RNA) and Spatial Analysis.
− Our success in investment planning will be measured by the optimal and efficient use of our investment budget. That is why we need tools like RNA in our shelf that can calculate and predict objectively the network behavior and evaluate the possible investment scenarios, says Laidre.
RNA has been used at Elektrilevi to spot network configurations that require repair or renewal. RNA is able to calculate over 300 network parameters to describe the reliability of the network. It can effectively be used, for example, to predict network behavior related to the volume and duration of outages and costs for both the operator and the society.
− In the hands of proficient planners RNA can truly amplify their competence, allowing them to make wise and transparent decisions. RNA calculations provide you with the information that helps find the solutions, Laidre summarizes.
Spatial analysis helps solve network configuration challenges
Spatial Analysis has helped Elektrilevi in choosing optimal location for the new weatherproof network. The company wants to build new lines in locations where the number of affected customers is as large as possible, but with as small investment as possible. Elektrilevi has analyzed different combinations of the number of customers and the amount of network to be reconstructed.
− We have calculated the most reasonable 1,000 km of overhead lines to be replaced with underground cables, which adds more than 100,000 clients to weatherproof network configuration, says Laidre.
− We have had Spatial Analysis for some time already but have recently rediscovered its potential. The application can basically solve whatever network configuration challenges the engineers are capable to acknowledge and model in the system. We have untied some sophisticated knots with Spatial Analysis. By visualizing the problems and analysis results you can understand, almost feel your network assets. This means you can explain and prove your arguments to the stakeholders, and of course save time in the process of decision making, describes Laidre.
Managing investment projects
The latest arrival in Elektrilevi’s solution is Trimble’s Network Investment Management (NIM) application. It was designed to integrate the utility's strategic data into the financial and network data, which helps in comparing the costs and outcome of potential network investments. At Elektrilevi, NIM will be used in investment portfolio management.
− I was looking for a tool that combines all the information needed in investment decisions into one view, and found out that such a tool was already being implemented in Trimble NIS, says Laidre, and continues
− We deployed NIM during 2014. Before, we had the investment data scattered in Trimble NIS, our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, custom-made report tools, Excel files and so on. The power of NIM lies in connecting all the essential data into one view in real time.
