Having a security of supply in the power grid of 99,99 percent does not make Halmstads Energi och Miljö AB (HEM) to sit back and relax. Instead, the regional Swedish energy company has declared to make digitalization of the power grid their next step forward. Installing the dInsight Analytics Platform from Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) has allowed the company to analyze grid data in-depth and take proactive measures to prevent outages and make grid investments.

– The advantage of dLab’s system is that we can find faults in the grid, incidents, and disturbances, before they develop into major outages. This is how we want to work, proactively, before anything has happened, says Jonas Stenberg, electrical engineer at Halmstads Energi och Miljö.

The collaboration between HEM and dLab started out as a pilot project in 2018 but by now dLab’s digital solution covers about 70 percent of HEM’s power grid.

– It is truly inspiring to learn about HEM’s ambitions within digitalization, and their determination to act today rather than waiting until tomorrow. And we are of course very proud of being able to contribute with our grid analytics platform identifying potential weaknesses and allowing for proactive work, says Henrik Winberg, COO of dLab.

dLab’s notification service alerts users when incidents that are regarded as potentially serious occurs, which allows Jonas and his team to look up the incidents in the grid analytics platform. Early warning is valuable in these processes, when time is of the essence, so that they can do something about the disturbance before the situation deteriorates.

– The upside of the system is both technical and financial; the time saved in fault detection has a huge impact on the operational efficiency, says Jonas Stenberg. It is a very handy tool, notifying us whenever something is not right, so that we do not need to constantly monitor the grid data values. It really makes grid analysis that much easier.

The platform allows HEM to check the power quality as well, ensuring that the company’s customers get the quality they need. dLab’s application dQuality can give a hint to where to look more in depth, also saving time.

Monitoring and digitally tracking the incidents with dLab’s solution ensure that HEM’s reliable grid of today can stay reliable in the future.

About Dlaboratory Sweden AB

Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) is a Swedish cleantech company offering a digital platform for gathering, analyzing, and presenting condition data for managing the future power grid. Our solutions enable proactive maintenance work, an increased security of supply, and fewer power outages. We are a commercial company since 2015 and the shares are listed at Nasdaq First North GM (DLAB) since April 2021.

The power quality monitoring application dQuality from Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) has turned out to be not only an efficient solution monitoring reactive power from wind production, or keeping track of harmonic distortions, but a useful tool for grid planning and investment. Monitoring power quality has thus turned out to be essential in creating a sustainable and reliable power grid.

– In grid planning, we need to know what we are up against, says Henrik Skyllerstedt, grid planning engineer at regional energy company Kraftringen. We look at several parameters to be able to make accurate and reliable grid investments, and data from dQuality is one of those. Grid planning is a major investment decision, especially in new urban developments, such as northern Lund, so it requires accuracy and rational underpinning. 

In the application dQuality, Henrik Skyllerstedt and his colleagues use data such as voltage variations and current flow from several feeders, comparing these with other data to get an overall view of the power load in the grid. From that, grid planning operations can decide on new connections adding load or production in an area, or other measures, if needed.

Power load assessment for planning purposes is just one additional use of the power quality monitoring solution dQuality from dLab. As more power electronics and sensitive equipment are connected to the grid, and intermittent power production from wind and PV or micro production is added, the power grid is put under strain. And reliable power quality becomes an issue, due to fluctuating power flows and harmonics.

A wind power plant, and even a single turbine, has a significant amount of power, and thus a capacity to influence the power quality and voltage stability in the grid. dLab’s application dQuality has a unique trait in that it can detect the reactive power flows to a single feeder line – allowing for faster compensations and restoration of the power capacity in the grid.

Harmonic distortions are another challenge coming into play with the new demands on the power grid. Power electronics can add more current harmonics and be more sensitive for harmonics from other sources. This is the case for fast chargers for vehicles (especially smart chargers where connected vehicles are acting as battery storage and supply energy to the grid on demand), battery storage power stations and solar power plants.

– dQuality monitors not only the harmonic content of the voltage in the substation, but also the current harmonics in each feeder. This makes it possible to trace the source of the harmonics, in order to be able to act if the harmonics are impairing the power quality of the grid, says Victor Bagge, systems engineer at dLab.

Monitoring power quality has thus turned out to be essential in creating a sustainable and reliable power grid. With dLab’s solution, it is possible to attain the essential reliable power quality, removing harmonics, and handling reactive power flow, while also forming well-grounded grid investments.

About Dlaboratory Sweden AB

Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) is a Swedish cleantech company offering a digital platform for gathering, analyzing, and presenting condition data for managing the future power grid. Our solutions enable proactive maintenance work, an increased security of supply, and fewer power outages. We are a commercial company since 2015 and the shares are listed at Nasdaq First North GM (DLAB) since April 2021.

A report from cleantech investor network Cleantech Scandinavia shows that the smart grid analytics platform by Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) could significantly reduce emissions in countries where diesel generators are used as back up during power outages. The yearly avoided emissions are estimated to 1,4 million tons of CO2 equivalents.

In many countries across the world, power outages are backed up with local generators fueled by diesel or petrol. About 8 % of the installed global capacity of these so-called back-up generators (or BUGS) are in Indonesia, and the country also suffers from frequent and long outages: an average yearly duration of 960 minutes per customer and an average frequency of 10 times per customer (Perusahaan Listrik Negara annual report 2018).

Cleantech investor network Cleantech Scandinavia has conducted a forecast on climate impact potential of the technology used by dLab, based on a potential roll out of dLab’s solution in 10 percent of Indonesian energy company Perusahaan Listrik Negara’s grid during a five-year-period. dLab’s solution can reduce outages and subsequently the need for BUGS, as well as enable utilities to understand and thus reduce reactive power in the power grid. It may also facilitate the addition of renewable energy sources.

Looking at these factors, the report shows that dLab’s solution can support the transition to a sustainable energy system in Indonesia. In numbers this means a potential yearly avoided emission of about 1,4 million tons of CO2 equivalents in case dLab was deployed in the entire grid, as a conservative estimate. Other positive effects, not investigated in the report, include potential savings due to more efficient maintenance and operations.

– The report came to several eye-opening conclusions. Avoiding outages, and thus increasing grid reliability, may be the immediate gain, but the long-term effects of using our solution are beyond that, says Henrik Winberg, COO.

The report further concludes that the systemic impact of the solution goes beyond the avoided emissions. Taking the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into account, dLab’s solution adds substantial positive effects on multiple goals, among those: SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being (reduction/elimination of generators); SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy (improving reliability of the energy system); and SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and infrastructure (improvement of the electricity network can strengthen the national economy).

Cleantech company Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) joins a European consortium in applying for funds from EU’s joint programming platform ERA-NET Smart Energy Systems (SES) for a project on power grid resilience. The overall aim of the project is to advance the green energy transition in all sectors of the energy system while also ensuring security of supply in the power grid. 

Swedish KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), Siemens, Wiener Netze, Fraunhofer ISE, OFFIS, and Solandeo GmbH join forces with dLab for the ERA-Net SES call for transnational projects on digital transformation for green energy transition. The proposed project called Resili8 – Resilience for Cyber-Physical Energy Systems – is aiming to increase grid resilience through a digitalized smart system. Part of the project proposal plan is an installation of dLabs solution in Austrian utilities company Wiener Netze’s power grid to study improved resilience possibilities.

– The future energy systems will be characterized by a much higher degree of digitalization than today’s systems, says Henrik Sandberg, professor at the division of Decision and Control Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Apart from scenarios with increasing penetration of renewable energies, the digitalization is also accompanied by new technologies and scenarios. Sector coupling, microgrids, energy communities, and new market architectures are all examples of technologies that fundamentally change how energy systems need to be designed and operated. It will be critical to guarantee resilience for these new complex energy systems and at the same time ensure sustainability. Resili8 tackles this with a novel solution for resilience planning, implementation, and operation of future energy systems, finishes Professor Henrik Sandberg.

Resili8 is taking on challenges for system operators such as installing an architecture that can adopt future technologies or finding new rapid, sustainable solutions to meet worst case scenarios. The proposed project is coordinated through Austrian Institute of Technology.

– Resili8 is a very exciting project where we can see our solution docking into a larger context, that is the green energy transition, says Fredrik Akke, CTO at dLab. Security of supply is an important feature of a new sustainable energy system. Without resilience, the grid will not be able to rise to the challenges the future energy system brings. This project would be a great opportunity for us to show how our solution can add value in the energy transition.

ERA-Net SES is a joint programming platform funded by the European Union and national partners, such as the Swedish Energy Agency, to build an eco-system of excellence for energy systems, through i.e., funding of transnational projects. The proposed project is scheduled to kick off next year and is estimated to end in 2025.

About Dlaboratory Sweden AB

Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) is a Swedish cleantech company offering a digital platform for gathering, analyzing, and presenting condition data for managing the future power grid. Our solutions enable proactive maintenance work, an increased security of supply, and fewer power outages. We are a commercial company since 2015 and the shares (DLAB) are listed at Nasdaq First North GM since April 2021.