Aurora’s turnaround works are completed. The work was carried out safely, on schedule and with excellence. A big thanks must go to Aurora’s employees, service providers and our client Neste for good collaboration. Aurora’s works were performed according to plan.
Maintenance work and testing help to ensure the high availability of the electricity network for years to come. During the service shutdown, Aurora performed functional testing of the power grid, maintenance that requires outages, and finalized such electrification investments that cannot be performed during normal operation. Planning for the turnaround began as early as spring 2019 and was restarted in the fall of 2020, as a result of the pandemic and the TA2020 turnaround being postponed to Spring, 2021.
At the planning phase of the turnaround:
- maintenance scopes were decided upon
- Investment related outages were identified and planned
- a detailed schedule for all maintenance and investment related outages were made
- the necessary services to be procured were assessed
- tenders were issued for the services
Well in advance of the turnaround, Aurora’s workforce was organized and the necessary work groups were formed for, eg. commissioning, coupling and investment supervision.
Due to the safety challenges posed by the corona virus, Aurora also had special arrangements in place for work safety and meals.
The work was performed safely: Auroras employees had no exposure to the corona virus or quarantines issued, and no accidents or electrical disturbances were recorded.
The most significant preventive maintenance measures were the primary testing of the control and protection functions of the electricity network and the maintenance and testing of the 110 kV switch yard. On the investment side, the electricity network in medium and low voltage switchgear and substation automation for several substations were renewed.
In order to carry out the work, more than 200 planned power outages were required during the shutdown, and there were meetings between Neste and Aurora in the mornings to coordinate the works. The meetings addressed issues related to communication and outages, as well as safety.
The safe and efficient execution of turnaround work requires a high level of responsibility, commitment, flexibility and, above all, skilled personnel, not to forget a good sense of humor.
Once again, a big thank you to the entire Aurora turnaround team, service providers and above all our customer for their good work and co-operation.
Jyrki Havukainen, Site Manager Kilpilahti
