Is it time to upgrade your grid?

Part 2 of 3: Speeding up electrification

Every industrial site has a list of pending upgrades. That may include a switchgear that should have been replaced two budget rounds ago. Or a transformer running warmer than it used to. Typically, the list of things that need to be upgraded is long but limited by budget.

The main reason for “upgrade investment debt” is simple. Very few companies have unlimited funds, and in industrial sites electrical infrastructure competes with a long list of other investment projects. The investments are postponed, not because they are not important, but because “the network still works” is an argument that typically leads to lower priority.

Lost opportunity and increased cost – and delayed decarbonization

While the “networks still works” a sub-optimally operating electrical grid may limit the operations, lead to increased downtime, lost production or increase in costs. Upgrade investment debt may also also add up. Spares get harder to source. It is harder to find people who know the system and are able to operate it. And once the modernization investment decision is done, the replacement is often more expensive and and takes longer. Furthermore, the old equipment is often less efficient and hence the CO2 emissions are higher. What is the availability of your current grid?

Proactive investment

Aurora bought Outokumpu’s electricity network in Tornio in 2013. Ever since, we have been continously investing in it. Medium-voltage switchgear, furnace transformers and compensators were replaced in 2016 to improve energy efficiency. A major expansion of the power feed system was completed in 2020 to strengthen reliability and capacity, with transformer and substation upgrades alongside it. The modernisation continues aiming to contribute towards Outokumpu’s CO2 reduction goals. Tornio grid now transmits  roughly 3 TWh a year at over 99.99% availability.

At Kilpilahti, Aurora has been operating the Neste refinery area since 2014. Over the years we have invested for example in new substations, grid renewal and expanded redundancy. Furthemore, we have put 90% of the cables underground across an area serving Neste, Borealis, Linde and the other companies on the site. Aurora in-sourced operations and maintenance in 2016 and has run the network at 99.9999% availability.

Unlocking opportunities together

The electricity grid is Aurora Infrastructure’s core business. Outokumpu and Neste are examples of continuous and proactive investments that take place when the network has an owner who cares. We commit to future investments based on our customers’ needs, and make them proactively so that the grid stays up-to date, resulting high availability and effiecient operations, all with lower CO2 emissions. In addition to normal O&M services our experts bring value through innovation, design, build and procurement of complex electrical grid assets. This is our core.

As an industrial site operator, there are number of opportunities that can be unblocked by looking at the electrical grid continuous development together with Aurora Infrastructure. That’s why we would like to work together with you on an asset value quote. It can both give an answer to the question of what the existing network is worth as an asset, and what a committed investment programme on top of it would look like.

Get an asset value quote. Tell us what you own and we will come back with what it is worth — and what we would invest in it.

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Next in the series: Fingrid builds the motorway. Who builds the last mile?

Aurora Infrastructure designs, finances, builds, owns and operates industrial-scale electrical infrastructure across the Nordics — with €650 million invested, roughly 6Twh distributed every year, at up to 99.9999% network availability.