Fortum – AVEVA UOC platform manages the largest hydropower plants in Finland with central remote monitoring and reporting
The largest hydroelectric power plant in Finland wanted to modernize control systems from various manufacturers into one integrated system.
Fortum project in a nutshell:
Fortum's Imatrankoski (178 MW) and Tainionkoski (62 MW) hydropower plants, together producing over 10% of Finland's hydropower, have modernized their automation with AVEVA System Platform. The goal was unified control, real-time monitoring, and remote operation from Fortum's central control room in Espoo.
The solution integrates 22 different PLCs from Rockwell, Siemens, and Schneider into a centralized system, connected via a reliable fiber optic network. The AVEVA software provides redundant operations, real-time data collection, and remote control capabilities with covering data collection. The upgraded system improves reliability, simplifies reporting, and allows easy system expansion.
The project was implemented by Comatec Automation Oy, an AVEVA-certified partner.
Key goals in the automation and reporting renovation were:
- Guaranteed and efficient joint use and reporting of the two hydropower plants in Imatra area.
- Combining the different automation devices used in the power plants into the same control room and reporting system at the Imatrankoski hydropower plant
- Easy and secure unmanned local automation outside working hours with a remote control solution from Fortum's central control room in Keilaniemi, Espoo
- Fast project planning and maintenance of the new system, including real-time updates.
- Fortum's Imatrankoski and Tainionkoski chose AVEVA automation software platform as their joint automation solution.
The key benefits of AVEVA solution:
- High Reliability and Redundancy: AVEVA System Platform ensures fail-safe operation through redundancy, allowing power plants to back up and manage each other’s functions.
- Real-Time Monitoring, Automation and Accurate Data Collection: The software enables fast data collection, automated maintenance, and unified real-time monitoring across different suppliers’ systems.
- Scalability and Remote Access: AVEVA offers flexible remote control, easy integration of new solutions, and regular updates to stay compatible with modern data environments.
AVEVA software connects 22 different PLC systems from various manufacturers
The facilities use 22 different PLC systems from several manufacturers: Rockwell Automation, Siemens, and Schneider, all of which have ready interfaces into the same AVEVA platform.
The local AVEVA on-premise servers of Imatrankoski and Tainionkoski were connected with a fast, approximately 10-kilometer-long fiber optic cable, which was duplicated for sufficient reliability. The separate servers of the two power plants can act as duplicates of each other if necessary, significantly increasing reliability.
The power plant's automation and reporting applications were created using the AVEVA System Platform application environment, which manages connections, user interfaces, data collection, and reporting.
The powerful AVEVA Historian automation database of the AVEVA System Platform handles data collection, storage, and reporting, and compresses data into a small data space.
Furthermore, one workstation is connected to the same local network for continuous system application development and maintenance.
The Historian automation database of the AVEVA System Platform handles data collection, storage, and reporting, and compresses data into a small space. Furthermore, one workstation is connected to the same local network for system application development and maintenance.