VEO automation know-how will ensure emergency power at Drammen Hospital

In Drammen, Norway, a new hospital is under construction. To ensure the hospital’s vital power supply during power cuts, the local energy company, Glitre Energi Produksjon AS, has made an EPC deal with VEO for a unique hybrid power plant, which will be built in the hospital area. Thanks to VEO’s high-end automation engineering and power distribution know-how, the power plant, Brakerøya Energisentral, will provide the hospital with auxiliary power within 0.5 seconds by combining a variety of different power sources as well as battery technology.

VEO’s engineers are enthusiastic about the required power plant project. In this unique project, VEO will integrate into a reliable system two separate 1.55 MW-battery sets, three 2.5 MW-gensets (two of which will run on bio diesel while a third will run on local biogas/natural gas), and a solar plant to provide the plant itself with electricity. VEO’s scope in the project also includes the plant’s power distribution system, where VEO’s own switchgear products, Vector and Veda, play an essential role. Because of the hospital’s critical need for electricity, all equipment involved in power distribution must be doubled to secure a power supply under N-1 conditions.

“This is a very interesting project for VEO, not only because of its scope and great complexity but also because of the required extremely short response time in emergency situations. Due to the multiple power sources in the system, our automation experts must take into consideration numerous contingency scenarios when planning the control system”, explains Ville Vieri, Sales Manager at VEO.

During the past few years, VEO has cooperated with Glitre Energi Produksjon AS on several large-scale hydropower projects. However, since this project is outside Glitre’s normal scope, extra confidence in VEO was required.

”We have had great projects with VEO earlier and the powerplants delivered by them have been operating very reliably. After a thorough selection process, we are confident that VEO is the correct supplier for this complex system”, says Sivert Eliassen, Project Manager at Glitre Energi.

Besides having had successful cooperation with Glitre previously, Ville Vieri believes that VEO clinched the deal this time because of their ability to handle the technical complexity of the project:
“As an independent system integrator, we can implement products of any brand as well as our own products. This enables us to create the best possible solution, which made us the best fit for the project.”

In Norway, Brakerøya Energisentral is a pioneer project in the field of sustainable energy, which has been granted financing from the government-owned Enova fund. The plant can be run on multiple alternative fuels, and the excess heat generated in the plant will be utilised by the district heating plant nearby. VEO’s engineering work has already started, and the plant will be in the commissioning stage already in October 2023. When commissioned, the plant will also provide Glitre with an opportunity to create extra income by participating in the frequency regulation market.

Being entrusted with this industrial electrification project gives VEO confidence that their strategical focus is correct.

“We are delighted to see that we are expanding our project deliveries into advanced industrial power distribution. This is completely in line with our updated strategy where we aim to increase our market presence also to industrial projects in Norway and Sweden”, says Jakob Lövdahl, Vice President, Industry, VEO.

More information

Ville Vieri, Sales Manager, VEO AS, tel. +358 (0)40 5962555, ville.vieri@veo.fi

Jakob Lövdahl, VP Industry, VEO Oy, tel. +358 50 5719422, jakob.lovdahl@veo.fi

Viktor Forss, VP Nordics (and MD of VEO AS & VEO AB), tel. +47 91 670 699, viktor.forss@veo.no

“This is a very interesting project for VEO, not only because of its scope and great complexity but also because of the required extremely short response time in emergency situations.”

Ville Vieri, Sales Manager at VEO.