VEO strengthens its position as a trusted energy partner in the Nordic countries

VEO is providing the solutions and technical knowledge for three hydropower plant modernisations and one newbuild across Sweden and Norway. These further strengthen VEO’s position as a leading supplier of complete electrification and automation systems on the Nordic energy market.

The projects are for hydropower plants at Hafslund Eco, Skellefteå Kraft and Statkraft. These ongoing projects are currently progressing at different phases; most are in the engineering phase during this year with deliveries and onsite work starting next year. The project deliveries include equipment for electrification and automation systems, which involve engineering, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and documentation. “These projects show that VEO is a flexible and trusted partner and supplier, providing a broad scope of technical knowledge that is not tied to a specific brand”, says Ville Vieri, Sales Manager, Power Generation at VEO.

Hafslund Eco, Nedre Vinstra hydropower plant, 4×50+1×100 MW

Norwegian company Hafslund Eco became the second largest power provider in Norway through a business merger with Eidsiva Energi in 2019. Eidsiva had been VEO’s customer for decades already and the co-operation continues now together with Hafslund Eco. The modernisation of the Nedre Vinstra hydro power plant is the first for Hafslund Eco after the merger and confirms that VEO is a trusted partner and supplier in the Nordic energy business.

The Nedre Vinstra hydropower plant is located in the municipality of Nord-Fron in Oppland County in Norway and has an installed total capacity of 300 MW with an annual production of 1,308 GWh. It is also a power plant in the highest emergency preparedness class (3) in Norway’s national preparedness plan for emergency situations if severe outages occur. The Nedre Vinstra plant is VEO’s first class 3 delivery in Norway.

“Class 3 emergency preparedness means that the power plant is of major importance for the Norwegian electricity supply in terms of operation and re-establishing purposes. For such a plant the requirements are very stringent when it comes to having a state-of-the-art redundancy. Thanks to VEO’s knowledge and redundancy solutions, the plant is compliant with all regulations”, says Geir Gryttingslien, Head of the Electrical Department at Hafslund Eco.

Skellefteå Kraft, Rengård hydropower plant, 45+26 MW

The Rengård project is a result of 10 years of close co-operation between VEO and Skellefteå Kraft. The customer already declared at an early stage that the procurement would be done as a collaboration project, where different suppliers, including VEO, would participate in the planning of the project in order to find the best and most optimal solutions. “Our previous deliveries, which met all the technical requirements the customer had, have proven that we have the capability, processes and desired way of working”, says Ville Vieri.

Skellefteå Kraft decided to modernise the electrification and automation systems in its existing Rengård plant G1 (upgraded from 35 MW to 45 MW), which is located in the river Skellefteå, as well as extend Rengård with another 26 MW, G2 plant. The modernisation of G1 is now in the commissioning phase, while G2 is in the engineering phase. G2 is a power plant project, where VEO delivers all the electrification and automation systems needed for the complete power plant, except for the generator and turbine, and outside the switchyard equipment.

The Rengård hydropower plant is the first project where the new Reference Designation System for Power Systems (RDS-PS) has been fully implemented. “As a power plant owner, we have access to a lot of data, but the problem is that the data is not structured or defined in the same way, hence, it is challenging to utilise properly. From a plant maintenance aspect, it is extremely important to have this possibility”, says Christina Svensson, Project Manager at Skellefteå Kraft.

Statkraft, Bjurfors Övre hydropower plant, 42 MW

Statkraft’s Bjurfors Övre hydropower plant is in Vindeln municipality, located in Västerbotten county in northern Sweden. The plant entered production 1961 and needed a second modernisation of the electrical and automation systems.

Statkraft is the biggest power producer in Norway and a large producer in Sweden. The modernisation project of the Bjurfors Övre plant is the first that VEO has done for Statkraft, and as such is very important.

VEO has decades of experience

The projects for Hafslund Eco, Skellefteå Kraft and Statkraft are relatively large in today’s energy market. In these projects, VEO’s strength lies in its profound knowledge and reliable tailored solutions being efficiently implemented and integrated with existing systems. In a Nordic context, the newbuild for Skellefteå Kraft is unique. Still, regardless of whether the project is a modernisation or newbuild, the scope of delivery is rather similar – and VEO is the trusted partner in the Nordic market.

“These projects show that VEO is a flexible and trusted partner and supplier, providing a broad scope of technical knowledge that is not tied to a specific brand”

Ville Vieri,  Sales Manager, Power Generation at VEO.