Svenska kraftnät launches digital tool to record voltage measurements
Image courtesy 123rf
Sweden’s Svenska kraftnät has launched BerIT, a digital tool to improve worker safety by digitising the registration of voltage measurement values.
The new tool, says the TSO in a release, overviews thousands of values from step and touch voltage measurements.
According to the company, BerIT is built on a GIS platform with future plans to integrate low-voltage maps, such as digital map information about low-voltage grids that lie within the area of influence for Svenska kraftnät’s facilities.
This means the company can more quickly see which facilities may be exposed to dangerous potential in the event of an operational disruption on, for example, a power line.
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The blue line shows contact voltage, which occurs between hand and foot when someone touches a conducting structure, such as a pole, during an earth fault. Touch voltage occurs when there is a difference in potential between two points, for example, the pole and the ground near an earth fault.
The green line shows step voltage between the feet when walking on the ground during an earth fault. Step voltage occurs when there is a difference in potential between two points on the ground near a ground fault.
Image courtesy Svenska kraftnät.
Commenting in a release was Svenska kraftnät’s project manager Kasewa Celepli: “The application is designed to meet Svenska kraftnät’s needs for monitoring and data collection in a cost-effective manner. By digitising parts of the work in the step and touch process, we can easily analyse and act on the information we receive, both short-term and long-term.
“The BerIT application is part of our strategy to modernise and improve our operational processes, and complements existing security practices. It is critical that basic safety measures and guidelines continue to be followed to ensure the highest possible level of safety.”
In the longer term, Svenska kraftnät says they want to implement AI functions that collect and analyse data from various sources.
By continuously monitoring changes that may indicate risks of unauthorised or dangerous installation, the AI would be able to inform and suggest necessary measures to prevent dangerous situations.
Under the company’s long-term vision, with hopes to implement within a 10-year period, the AI would also facilitate the collection of information and propose actions required to prepare an operating permit application.
