Table of contents
Effective and simple outlining of various options for network development, together with cost calculations, enables the network company to save time and resources in the planning process.
Need: Decision-making tools for the future power system
The network company Lnett operates the electricity grid in Sør Rogaland. Over the next few years, they will replace many of the current substations due to their age and increased power demand. Lnett has little data that can give a clue as to how the future power demand can best be solved: Should new substations be placed where the old ones stand today? Can one station replace several of the old ones? Can the capacity need be solved by building new lines, or changing the voltage level?
The uncertainty surrounding future power demand makes it difficult to assess what will be built. Therefore, Lnett wanted a solution that could provide better data and a decision-making basis for identifying the best alternatives for network development. Lnett chose to make an innovative acquisition through the framework in StartOff. InfoTiles won the competition, and after 15 weeks of development, the minimum solution (MVP) was ready in June 2024.
Solution: Automated data collection
The Stavanger-based company InfoTiles has developed a digital decision-making tool that makes it faster and easier to plan future developments of the power grid. The solution shows the costs, socio-economic effects and natural consequences of an outlined development of the power grid.
- The amount of information when all factors have to be taken into account quickly becomes very large. The historical approach has largely been based on manual processes that are person-dependent and time-consuming, says Marco Westergren, director of analysis at InfoTiles.
Using analysis tools, graph theory and AI, InfoTiles can boil complex information down to simple answers. The solution plots future large consumers of electricity, such as battery factories and data centres, and finds optimal routes for grid development that minimize costs and limit natural interventions.
In the tool, planners can create simple sketches of future substations and power lines to calculate the development costs. By using color codes, the tool indicates how easy or complicated it will be to build out each part, where the costs are structured according to the calculation tool REN.
- The tool provides an insight into where and how to prioritize the upgrading and development of new electricity infrastructure. It helps the electricity companies to make better decisions, so that the contractors get clearer priorities and streamlined processes, says Westergren.
When the grid company has settled on a future plan for developing the electricity grid, a license must be applied for from NVE. The tool makes it easy to document how and why the plan was arrived at, since all information can be downloaded in tabular form. It streamlines the process of meeting NVE's requirements for documentation.
The ultimate goal is for electricity customers to have a more stable and predictable electricity network, while at the same time equipping society for an emission-free future
- Marco Westergren
Can be used by all electricity companies
The solution is ready for use today. The goal is for it to be a common service for all the network companies in Norway. At the same time, it is designed with enough flexibility to adapt to new needs.
Companies can choose to buy the solution as a ready-made software, or embed InfoTiles' analysis tools in a map platform they already use and like. In this way, users can continue to work in programs they are already well used to, but still have access to better tools.
- As a very technical company, we have had the main focus on the "engine" working first, so that we can support interaction with existing solutions at the network companies, explains Johnny Gunneng, managing director and founder of InfoTiles.
Lnett: This is a support for the entire industry
Lnett hopes that this is the start of a new industry tool, which they can build on in collaboration with other network companies.
- For Lnett's part, it has been about creating a tool that supports the standardization that we see elsewhere in the industry. We have standardization in relation to data on cost and in relation to the online model. And introducing this type of tool that looks at the same data means that you get support for the entire industry, and not just for Lnett as a company, says Lars Andre Kalve, director of network strategy and analysis at Lnett.
The article was first posted in Norwegian at Leverandørutviklingsprogrammet (LUP)