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Cable Fault Pinpointed with Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System®

Company	Raahen Energia
Location	Raahe, Finland
Timeline	2025
Project Overview	Raahen Energia leveraged Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System® to improve fault detection and response in its underground cable network. When a cable fault occurred, the system enabled precise fault location and rapid decision-making, allowing the utility to isolate the issue, minimize the outage area, and restore power efficiently.
Products	Safegrid Smart Fault Prediction Tool

intelligent grid system This is a Safegrid Case Study.

Background

Raahen Energia is a Finnish energy company responsible for electricity distribution and related services in the Raahe region. The company is focused on improving network reliability and enhancing the customer experience through modern technologies.

After implementing Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System®, Raahen Energia encountered its first cable fault event—providing a real-world opportunity to validate the system’s performance in a critical situation.

Challenge

The fault occurred during the night, creating additional operational challenges:

Limited personnel available for immediate response
Urgent need to restore power quickly
Difficulty locating faults in underground cable networks
Risk of extended outages due to time-consuming fault detection

Without accurate fault location data, identifying the issue could have taken hours, affecting a larger number of customers.

“When you wake up in the middle of the night to a fault and you need to make sensible decisions, it makes it a lot easier when you know the fault location,”
— Rauno Karvonen, Operations Manager, Raahen Energia

Solution

Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System® detected the fault immediately and provided precise real-time location data.

Key actions enabled:

Instant identification of the fault location
Targeted switching to isolate the affected section
Rapid deployment of field crews to the exact area

Field confirmation:

Fault located approximately 137 meters from the predicted point
Root cause identified as a damaged cable splice
Visible damage confirmed Safegrid’s detection accuracy

Benefits

The implementation delivered several operational advantages:

Accurate underground cable fault detection
Faster decision-making during critical situations
Reduced reliance on time-consuming manual fault tracing
Minimized outage impact through targeted intervention
Improved efficiency of maintenance operations

Results

With Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System®, Raahen Energia achieved:

Precise fault location within approximately 137 meters
Reduced outage area through targeted switching
Faster fault diagnosis and repair
Time and resource savings during nighttime operations

Conclusion

This case highlights the effectiveness of Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System® in managing underground cable faults, even under demanding conditions such as nighttime incidents. By providing accurate, real-time insights, the system enabled Raahen Energia to respond quickly, minimize disruption, and restore power efficiently.

The result is a more resilient and reliable grid, supported by data-driven decision-making and advanced monitoring capabilities—demonstrating the value of intelligent grid technologies in modern utility operations.