As part of Aurora’s long-term investment program, a new substation, M134, was built in the Kilpilahti industrial area to meet the electricity distribution needs of Aurora’s customers. M134 is a so-called modular substation, built out of prefabricated modules. You can read the project manager’s comments on testing the new concept here.
Our customers’ demand for uninterrupted electricity distribution is constantly high and Aurora is one of Finland’s, if not the world’s, best operators when it comes to network availability. That is why we are not in general very eager to test all the newest innovations, and prefer to stick to somewhat conservative, tested techniques. However, we felt that the concept of a prefabricated modular substation, fulfilled our high criteria since building in a running plant poses its own challenges.
Trying out new building techniques causes extra effort for our own organization as well, and this time too, we could not avoid additional project work. However, the investment was worthwhile, as we were able to see the benefits of a prefabricated construction in practice. Although there is still room for improvement in future projects. We were able to form our own understanding for which type of environment a prefabricated substation can be the best option. It looks great, all 638,5 m2 of it. The equipment works, and our very tall and broad-shouldered operational personnel and technicians have room to work, even if they doubted it at first.
Now when the project folders are closed and put in the archives, it is a good time to thank our own organization, our partners ABB and Neste Engineering Solutions, and all the other people and organizations involved, as well as our customer and landowner for their positive commitment. Without our wonderful network, this project would not have been possible. Our somewhat cautious and conservative approach does not have to mean we cannot be pioneers and it was well proven once again!
Heidi Hirsimäki, Purchasing Manager
Take a look on how the project progressed here. The video has been done in collaboration with ABB Oy.
