Smart power Vattenfall

SMART POWER

Nordic energy company Vattenfall Oy is playing a leading role in producing and delivering green energy solutions in Europe, with a focus on providing an efficient and flexible system through its innovative Smart Grid. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to managing director Tapani Liuhala to find out how this goal is being achieved.

AS one of Europe’s leading energy companies, Vattenfall Oy has consistently worked with a long-term focus on innovation, reliability of service and environmentally responsible energy solutions. With a history reaching back to the early days of Finland’s Royal Waterboard in 1910, Vattenfall today operates electricity cables that could go round the world 4.5 times.

Vattenfall is the leading unit in the Nordic Group, providing energy and heat generation, distribution, sales and maintenance. It has over 40,000 employees, with operations in eight countries and it is number five in terms of European energy generation and number one for heat production. With over €20bn net sales in 2009, Vattenfall has performed consistently well throughout the global downturn, and has ambitious plans for continuous growth across Europe, particularly in its Nordic home area.

Diversified energy player

Vattenfall enjoys a 20 per cent market share in Europe based on its nuclear and hydroelectric generation, particularly in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and is one of the industry leaders in reducing harmful emissions within European power generation. Managing director Tapani Liuhala commented, “We are very much a diversified energy player in Europe and our investment capital is substantial and stable. In fact, our capital investment has increased five-fold over the last ten years and, with our current investment, we are destined to reduce our customers’ emissions profile by more than 60 per cent over the coming 20 years.”

Vattenfall has an annual electricity generation of around 158.7 TWh, with heat generation at around 37.9 TWh. In order to increase the flexibility and efficiency of its services, the company has created an

innovative network called the Smart Grid. Prior to Smart Grid, distributing energy to customers, particularly in rural areas, was an often-frustrating and relatively inefficient process. The Vattenfall development has unleashed a highly efficient, totally transparent system of green energy distribution that gives the company’s 400,000 customers the ability to see their energy consumption on an hourly basis.

Mr Liuhala explained, “Smart Grid is a very intelligent system that works in harmony both with the sustainable energy generation we offer and the changing demands of our customers. We have found that many customers want to produce some of their own energy and, however little that may be, want to be able to use it within their own homes. This means that our distribution system has to be flexible and able to incorporate smallscale energy production, with the capability of accepting more as customer take up of solar panels and wind turbines increases.”

Increased intelligence

Smart Grid offers far greater automation in the collection and distribution of energy to Vattenfall customers, which encourages two-way conversation and provides a great deal of information that can be realised to

monitor its networks in real time. Mr Liuhala continued, “Even a family with a microproduction of a few hundred watts is a good contribution, but of course this is not enough for their reliable energy provision, so they can key into our system to maintain a steady service. A great advantage of the Smart Grid is that we are able to bill our customers for their exact usage – there are no estimated bills – so they are able to monitor their usage very accurately.”

The extensive technology required to make the Smart System work has been developed by Vattenfall’s dedicated R&D department working closely with a number of trusted partners. The excellent functionality of the service is supported by the very latest technical provision, such as a weather proof system that employs underground cables across the network and the ability for Vattenfall to communicate any repair issues with customers in real time via email, SMS or the company’s website, which increases cost efficiency related to operating a large number telephone customer service lines. It also utilises a 3DVisimind system where a helicopter identifies issues quickly and effectively.

As Vattenfall continues to maintain its industry-leading position, its plans for the next 12 months and beyond focus on offering customers the green energy service they want, exactly as they want it. Mr Liuhala concluded, “All our efforts are centred on meeting the demands and expectations of our customers, and to do so in the most environmentally responsible manner possible. We’re always looking to future solutions that maximise the potential of solar energy and other sustainable technologies. We are taking the lead in providing charging stations for electric cars across our territories, as well as working in collaboration with car makers and other development networks. It’s an exciting time to be part of Vattenfall.” n