Monitoring of weather conditions

Statnett owns and operates the transmission network

Statnett is responsible for building, operating and maintaining the Norwegian power system. Knowledge about the weather conditions along the power lines is essential to be able to utilize the grid capacity in the best possible way, and at the same time ensure security of supply.

In the KORTPROG research project, Statnett collaborates with the Meteorological Institute, Norconsult and Telenor to develop cost-effective solutions for monitoring and improving weather forecast along the lines in the transmission network. The project is mainly financed by the Norwegian Research Council and Statnett.

Need for increased capacity

Statnett is experiencing a large influx of players who want to electrify, expand or connect new businesses to the grid. For Statnett, this means that network capacity must be increased quickly. At the same time, it is important to utilize the available capacity in today's high-voltage grid as well as possible.

The wires heat up when current is passed through them. This heating causes the wires to expand and sink closer to the ground. The temperature of the wires, as well as the permitted distance to the ground, therefore set limitations for the transmission capacity of the wires.

Since the weather conditions, and especially the wind, along the lines are not known, the current limits are based on conservative assumptions about wind speed and the possibility of cooling the line due to wind.

By obtaining real-time data on temperature and wind conditions, Statnett will get a more correct basis for calculating what the real current limits in the grid are at any time, and with better weather forecasts, they will be able to predict usable capacity in the future. It is believed that in many situations this can provide 20-30% increased transmission capacity for a large part of the time.

About the solution

In collaboration with Kjeller Vindteknikk at Norconsult, Datek Next has delivered a prototype solution for obtaining weather data from various locations in Statnett's high-voltage grid. A separate circuit board which collects data from various sensors for wind and temperature has also been developed.

The project is responsible for assembling the units on a mounting bracket, so that the units are ready for a painless installation outside Statnett's high-voltage network.

The result

15 units have been installed in the field and they work to collect data. The expectation is that the measurement data will already be used this winter in improved forecasts for current limits in certain areas of the high-voltage network. The results so far are very promising.

With the help of Datek Next, we have now developed weather stations with such a low current draw that they can operate for years on internal batteries, and at the same time make weather measurements with high precision. In this way, we can collect a lot of valuable weather data in a cost-effective way for calculating power limits and better utilization of the power grid. We see great opportunities for the use of this type of weather station in the future.

Bjørn Egil Nygaard, meteorologist at Kjeller Vindteknikk/Norconsult.

About Norconsult and Kjeller Vindteknikk

Kjeller Vindteknikk has more than 20 years' experience of working in wind energy, and is one of the leading consulting companies in wind power and wind technology in the Nordics.