Norway. Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk Holding AS
| Date of agreement: | 22 Dec 2016 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Norway |
| Customer: | Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk Holding AS |
| Amount in NOK: | NOK 255 million |
| Amount in EUR: | EUR 28 million |
| Maturity: | 15 years |
| NACE sector / loan type: | Transmission and distribution of electricity |
Project
The loan has been provided to finance an advanced metering system (AMS) and upgrades to regional electricity networks for the period 2016–2019.
Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk Holding AS (NTE) will install AMS components for its 82,400 customers in Nord-Trøndelag County. The project covers automatic smart meters, as well as the communications infrastructure and collection system to gather meter values for the management and automation of the network.
The procurement is part of a national programme, required by the Norwegian authorities, to deploy an automated measuring system. The roll-out of the meters is scheduled for completion by 1 January 2019.
NTE has signed a cooperation agreement, called Soria, with some 28 other network utilities covering up to 700,000 customers in the Bergen and Trondheim areas and Northern Norway. These include NIB clients such as BKK, Sogn og Fjordane Energi, Helgeland Kraft, Sunnfjord Energi and Trønder Energi.
The Soria cooperation aims to supply more efficient solutions for collecting, processing and analysing metering data for integration with the Norwegian Elhub system, customers’ information system and network information system.
NTE will also upgrade the Sutterø and Tunnsjødal substations and upgrade the company’s regional networks from 66 kV to 132 kV. This will increase the security of supply, reduce network losses and open up new connections to the grid. It will also enable investments in new renewable production up to 30 MW.
NTE was founded in 1919 and is based in Mid-Norway. The company is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of clean and renewable energy, sales of power, fiber-based broadband and electrical services. The group aims to be a leading regional renewable company contributing to the green shift. The company has approximately 695 employees.
Fulfilment of NIB's mandate
Competitiveness
The investment in AMS allows for collecting connection- and client-specific data, which will considerably increase the amount of information about customers’ consumption patterns and network status. These data will be used to improve network stability and to facilitate faster responses to potential and actual network failures.
AMS also facilitates adoption of decentralised power production in the network and development of more efficient products based on non-linear pricing, which will reduce the profiling costs of retail power companies. As a result, the installation of smart meters and development of a smart grid may lead to a reduction in electricity consumption during peak hours and thereby place additional price pressure on the least-efficient production units in NordPool.
The investments in transformer stations will increase the network capacity and improve the security of supply in the region.
The investment in new regional network lines will marginally increase network capacity.
Environment
Smart grids with real-time meters are expected to have some positive impacts on energy efficiency in the long run. The predicted savings are assessed in the EU’s cost-benefit analyses to be of the magnitude of 3%.
The Tunnsjødal substation project will enable the connection of more hydropower to the grid.
Of the currently available transformation capacity, 73–74 MW, approximately 50 MW is currently being utilised. However, new hydropower capacity equivalent to an installed effect of 28.5 MW is currently being constructed in the area of the project.
Sustainability summary
The meters are replaced according to the contract with the installation contractor; they are collected and treated as electronic waste in line with applicable regulations.
