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Vakka-Suomen Voima Finds Difficult Earth Faults with Safegrid

Company	Vakka-Suomen Voima
Location	Satakunta and Varsinais-Suomi regions, Finland
Timeline	2023
Project Overview	Vakka-Suomen Voima implemented Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System™ to enhance predictive maintenance and improve fault detection across its distribution network. The solution enabled the utility to identify and resolve difficult, intermittent earth faults, reducing outages and improving operational efficiency.
Products	Safegrid Intelligent Grid System®

earth faults This is a Safegrid Case Study.

Background

Founded in 1909, Vakka-Suomen Voima has over 110 years of operational history. Today, the utility manages more than 4,000 km of network and serves over 25,000 customers across nine municipalities in Finland.

Like many utilities with extensive infrastructure, Vakka-Suomen Voima faces challenges in maintaining reliability, especially when dealing with faults that are not immediately visible or detectable through conventional methods.

Challenge

The utility experienced recurring issues in its network:

Earth fault trips affecting system performance
Customer complaints about flickering lights
Difficulty identifying the exact source of abnormal behavior
Intermittent faults that were hard to locate using traditional methods
Risk of outages and increased maintenance costs

Despite clear signs of a problem, the root cause remained hidden, making resolution time-consuming and inefficient.

Solution

Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System™ was deployed to provide real-time monitoring and advanced fault detection.

Key capabilities:

Detection of abnormal electrical signals in the network
Precise fault localization
Continuous monitoring to identify intermittent issues

Implementation outcome:

Safegrid identified abnormal signals originating from a specific substation
Field inspection revealed leaking switchgear causing earth faults against the insulator body
The faulty breaker was quickly isolated and repaired

This data-driven approach allowed the team to move directly to the root cause without unnecessary investigation.

Benefits

The Safegrid solution delivered key advantages:

Ability to locate difficult, intermittent earth faults
Reduced reliance on trial-and-error fault tracing
Faster and more efficient maintenance operations
Improved grid reliability and performance
Prevention of costly outages

Results

With Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System™, Vakka-Suomen Voima achieved:

Accurate identification of previously hard-to-locate faults
Faster fault detection and repair
Reduced downtime and improved service reliability
Time and cost savings in maintenance operations

“Safegrid has helped us to locate intermittent earth faults that have been difficult to locate. This has saved time and money in our maintenance operations.”
— Mikko Heinonen, Operations Manager

Conclusion

This case highlights the value of advanced monitoring in detecting and resolving complex grid issues. By leveraging Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System™, Vakka-Suomen Voima successfully identified and addressed a hidden fault that could have led to larger disruptions.

The result is a more reliable, efficient, and proactive grid, demonstrating how intelligent technology can transform maintenance practices and improve overall network performance.