Sira-Kvina Power Company puts their trust in DAMM’s communications system

The Sira-Kvina Power Company, who engages in production of renewable energy, chooses a 15 site TETRA communications system from DAMM for their replacement of a worn out MPT1327 system. The new communications system has been delivered by one of DAMM’s long-term trusted partners, 123 Communications AS.

The Sira-Kvina Power Company is one of Norways largest power companies, producing 6300 GWh of renewable energy from 7 hydro power plants using water from the watercourses from mountains in the South West of Norway.

Sira-Kvina has an objective of an uptime of their production facilities of 90%. And together with the Norwegian law dictating Norwegian Utilities companies to have their private internal communication system that can operate in 72 hours even if regular power supplies are cut off, it sets high demands to a reliable and robust communications system.

Mr. George Hamm, Section Leader, Technical Planning, from Sira-Kvina says: ‘The competitiveness of Sira-Kvina is based on high technical standards of our powerplants, a high level of competences of our employees and optimal usage of the latest technologies. Altogether to ensure a high efficiency together with highest considerations for our workers safety and the optimal usage of natures ressources. To reach this, it has been of high priority to ensure the best standard of our communications system together with a trustworthy and competent partner.’

The TetraFlex® infrastructure from DAMM was chosen due to its highly reliable and flexible system that easily can be scaled to meet future needs, both traffic and coverage wise, its ease of installation, ease of operation, distributed intelligence (no central switch = no single point of failure) and the fact that 123 Communication AS is a knowledgeable supplier with trustworthy solutions.

The supplied TETRA installation consists of 15 sites. 8 outdoor units are mounted in equipment rooms on mountain tops, ensuring outdoor coverage over a vast distance. Further 7 installations are in tunnels housing the hydroelectric facilities. The system is additionally fitted with a voice gateway towards the customer’s telephone system and two dispatchers.

All power plant facilities are placed hundred of meters inside the mountains, and the TetraFlex® system has proven very suitable for the coverage within tunnels and concrete buildings, with the reuse of existing frequencies from 1999.   ?Some of the main challenges for the project installation is the very remote sites where equipment and personnel must be airlifted by helicopter or transported by snow scooters.

Source: DAMM