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29.9.2014 10:55
Press Releases

The disturbance exercise was a success and highlighted need for development

The VALVE 2014 disturbance exercise organised in cooperation between electricity companies and authorities was an exercise to restore nationwide electricity in event of major disturbance. The exercise was held in the evening in Rovaniemi and the surrounding municipalities and it tested the restoration of electricity after a nationwide outage.The exercise was intended to ensure that electricity could be restored using northern Finland's hydroelectricity if neighbouring Sweden was unable to provide starting electricity. Due to the exercise's time restraints, electricity was restored by disconnecting the planned area and connecting the Rovaniemi area to the grid network, which deviated from the advance plan.
The exercise required short outages in electricity supply which lasted 15-45 minutes as planned in the Rovaniemi area.Electricity outages were carried out in the early evening from 6:00pm in the Tervola and Muurola areas, and in Rovaniemi from 9:15pm.Electricity was restored to the areas no later than 10:25pm.The longest electricity outages lasted for just over an hour.In total, just under 30,000 households were affected by the outages. Important sites, such asLapin keskussairaala hospital and health centres were excluded from the exercise.
 
Exercise highlights need for development
 
The exercise ensured that in the event of a nationwide electricity outage, electricity could be restored using the hydroelectricity plants in northern Finland.The exercise began with extensive, fictitious disturbance on the main grid.This was followed by an outage in the distribution of electricity to the Rovaniemi area. After the outage occurred, electricity companies acted in line with disturbance guidelines and worked together to restore the supply of electricity.The exercise tested how well the disturbance guidelines work in practice as well as the cooperation and management arrangements between electricity and power companies. The exercise also tested the carrying out of connections necessary in the assembly of the electricity transmission network as well as the functionality of power plants in the assembly of the network.
 
Technical difficulties caused delays in the planned restoration of electricity. Due to pre-agreed deadlines, the restoration of electricity using local hydropower was abandoned and electricity was restored by re-connecting Rovaniemi to the grid network in line with a back-up plan.
 
"During the exercise we had a few technical difficulties which delayed the restoration of electricity.A set period of time had been determined for the exercise, and once it was up we decided to stop the exercise," explains Manager Reima Päivinen from Fingrid Oyj.
 
Päivinen says that the exercise was a great success.The exercise produced lots of information which can be used to develop operations.
 
The exercise also provided the City of Rovaniemi and the region's authorities with important information as to what capacity actors in the region have to prepare for major disturbance to electricity distribution.
 
We can prepare for major disturbance if we consider it a possibility.We must be able to carry out such exercises sufficiently often with various parties in order to maintain the capacity to deal with major disturbance. Residents, too, must be made aware of the possibility of even a long-term electricity outage.
 
The National Emergency Supply Agency, Power and District Heat Pool, Fingrid Oyj, Fortum Power & Heat Oy, Kemijoki Oy, Rovakaira Oy, RovaniemenEnergia Oy, Rovaniemen Verkko Oy and Tenergia Oy all participated in the exercise.
 
Further information:
Petri Nieminen, National Emergency Supply Agency, tel.+358 (0)2950 51060
Erja Saraste, National Emergency Supply Agency, Communications Manager, tel.+358 (0)2950 51038
Reima Päivinen, Fingrid Oyj, Manager, power system operation, tel.+358 (0)30 395 5160
Arto Pahkin, Fingrid, Control Room Manager, tel.+358 (0)30 395 4315
Marjaana Kivioja, Communications Manager, Fingrid, tel.+358 (0)30 395 5267
Arvo Torkkola, Rovaniemen Verkko Oy, tel.+358 (0)40 501 0193
Aleksi Sarajärvi, Rovaniemen Verkko Oy, tel.+358 (0)40 511 8835
Arto Miettinen, Rovakaira Oy, tel.+358 (0)16 331 6200
Erkki Nuortio, Kemijoki Oy, tel.+358 (0)20 703 4462
Janne Ala, Kemijoki Oy, tel.+358 (0)20 703 4423
Tatu Kulla, Fortum Power & Heat Oy, tel.+358 (0)400 294 499
Juha Happonen, Fortum Power & Heat Oy, tel.+358 (0)50 454 8218
Jarno Lumimäki, Tenergia Oy, tel.+358 (0)40 544 0266
 
The disturbance exercise was organised by the Power and District Heat Pool.The Power and District Heat Pool is a cooperation body between authorities and companies which manages company-specific preparedness and preparedness planning concerning energy production, transmission and distribution.The Pool was established by an agreement between Fingrid Oyj and the National Emergency Supply Agency and consists of the pool committee, office, regional organisation and energy supply companies.