Norway’s Glitre Nett explores substation maintenance with digital twin
Image: Kongsberg Digital
Norwegian network operator Glitre Nett is piloting approaches to substation condition-based maintenance approaches with a digital twin.
Glitre Nett is collaborating with Kongsberg Digital utilising its Kognitwin Grid digital twin to evaluate how leveraging real-time data and advanced analytics can provide insights into equipment health and lead to opportunities for more targeted maintenance practices.
The pilot, forming part of an ongoing research and development effort at Glitre Nett to assess how advanced digital technologies can support condition-based maintenance practices, is limited to three substations.
“This pilot is an important step in learning how we can improve maintenance practices,” says Otto Andreas Rustand, Head of Digitalisation, Innovation and IT Security at Glitre Nett.
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“While we are still in the early stages, it gives us valuable knowledge about how we might work smarter in the future by incorporating new digital tools. We will continue to explore collaborative opportunities with Kongsberg Digital to innovate and develop solutions that support the industry’s progress.”
A key area of exploration is the predictive capabilities, with the monitoring of equipment conditions in real-time to detect issues early.
Another is the resource optimisation that should result, with the reduction of unnecessary service visits by focusing on the equipment requiring attention.
In addition there is the workplace safety that should be enhanced with fewer and more targeted maintenance activities.
By continuously monitoring the health of switches and other critical substation infrastructure components through Kognitwin Grid, Glitre Nett aims to gain insights into how such technology could support maintenance decisions and enable it to move away from the traditional calendar-based approach.
The pilot is proposed to shape future considerations rather than represent a solution ready for full-scale implementation today, for example for risk-based maintenance strategies, where maintenance efforts are prioritised based on risk profiles and reliability analyses.
It also builds on earlier work in which Glitre Nett tested the Kognitwin Grid digital twin for new connection requests and increasing capacity for existing customers, aiming to enhance operational workflows.
