Customer case stories 10.10.2024

Bodens Energi Nät enhances grid operations with new AMM

After a 3-year project, Bodens Energi Nät is now ready with their new AMM, and nearly all of the company’s 17,000 electricity meters have been replaced with new Aidon devices. The new system has made metering work and grid operation much easier.

When Bodens Energi planned their meter renewal, they had three main goals for the new AMM. The first goal was to fulfil the functional requirements defined by legislation. The second was to gain visibility into their low-voltage grid to simplify the work of grid operations. The third goal was to improve the management of outages, in order to ease the work related to the characteristics of their power grid – long distances with many overhead lines and a partly outdated network.

According to Håkan Engström, leader of the renewal project, and Andreas Ängstål, head of the metering department, the three goals have been met very well so far, and there’s a lot of potential to be exploited in the future.

The functional requirements were given, and a reliable meter value collection is the foundation for obtaining extended information from the power grid. The new meters provide faster, and more stable readings compared to the old ones. They offer both outage and power quality information, which is of great help.

In the past, when customer had issues related to electricity at their facility –  a blown fuse, for example – it could take Boden Energi’s technicians a few hours’ drive to investigate the problem. This is due to the largely sparsely populated grid area. During the winter season, some properties are challenging to reach. Now, with outage alarms and detailed power quality information, identifying problems is much easier and faster. In some cases, customers may be able to solve the issue themselves when advised by Bodens Energi’s service team.

The digitalisation and remote monitoring of events is a welcome improvement also in the long term. In Boden municipality, a large industrial construction project will keep the energy company busy: alongside the new factory and related facilities, near to 3,000 new apartments will be built in the municipality by 2030. Even though solar panels and electric vehicles are not as widespread in the north as in some other parts of Sweden, it is clear that there is a need for smart technology to manage the distribution network. Boden’s team is well prepared – the next step is to plan how to get the most benefit out of the new system. The team at Bodens Energi feels they have a good knowledge of Aidon system and can handle operations in a good manner.