Equinor to manage offshore assets with 5G-ready private LTE network

Equinor, global producer of oil, gas and wind power, has entered into a frame agreement with Nokia and systems integrator, NetNordic, to deliver a private 4G and 5G-ready solution for Equinor’s international operations.

Equinor, like many other utilities, is seeking a robust communications platform that is private, secure, resilient and designed to meet their needs. As new distributed renewable energy resources and storage come online, advanced communications infrastructure is needed to monitor and manage the multi-directional and intermittent flow of electricity.

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More specifically, Equinor’s Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm currently is the wind farm furthest away from the UK shoreline and operating it has required the company to employ innovative technologies and devise new working methodology.

To this end, the eight-year frame agreement will include hardware, software, design, radio planning, implementation and support. Under the agreement, the private LTE network will be installed this summer at the 402MW Dudgeon offshore wind farm and the 316MW Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm, located in the UK and both operated by Equinor.

Jarl Øverby, NetNordic Group CEO: “Working with Nokia we are able to deliver the secure, smart, offshore wireless digital fabric that Equinor can use to support its communication and maintenance activities and safety objectives. This includes the flexibility to employ a wide range of integrated applications, including Nokia DAC teams comms and Nokia Drone Networks, and the capability to deploy them to the edge. This is a secure and resilient solution that will easily scale and evolve to 5G to meet their future needs.”

Nokia’s DAC solution comprises the Nokia 4.9G LTE and 5G Radio Access Network technology and devices, as well as a large range of access points both for indoor and outdoor coverage, and an edge solution with complete packet core and application framework for edge computing. Nokia says it has deployed mission-critical networks to over 1,550 customers in the energy, transportation, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale, and public sector segments around the globe.

Originally posted on power-grid.com