Mitigating the Impact of Extreme Weather Conditions

Storms, floods, wildfires, and other climate-driven events threaten our energy systems. Solutions for electricity grid building, protection automation and control are designed not only to mitigate the impact of risks on everyday lives but also to promote biodiversity and environmental protection.

Extreme Weather Threatens the Energy System

Challenging and even extreme environmental conditions, climate change and a growing population near the electricity infrastructure increase the risk of damage to vital electricity networks. Intense storms or downbursts, hard winters with heavy snow loads, floods, wildfires, and other weather phenomena induced by global warming threaten our critical energy system.

Solutions for electricity grid building, protection automation and control are designed not only to mitigate the impact on everyday lives but also to promote biodiversity and environmental protection.

Ensto has a wide range of solutions with which we can mitigate the impact of extreme weather conditions. Check out some of our solutions.

Our Solutions

Full Covered Conductor Solution

Full covered conductor solution (FCCS) for overhead lines helps our customers to minimize the risk of wildfires in e.g., Southern Europe, California, and Australia, as well as minimize the risks caused by snow and ice in the north.

As the global leader in FCCS for medium voltage distribution, our line accessories set the standard for reliability and safety. By replacing the conductors with covered conductors and using FCCS accessories, the risk of conductors falling and causing damage is minimal.

Cold Shrink Accessories

Underground cabling is an effective way to build a weather-proof electricity distribution network and increase the operational reliability of the network. When the cable installation is done properly with high-quality, watertight accessories, the reliability of electricity networks is high.

A durable method for connecting and terminating cables in a medium voltage network is to utilize underground cable accessories with cold shrink technology. These accessories integrate the most essential components into a single unit, making installation also fast and easy.

Load Break Switches

Automated load break switch solutions effectively limit the impacted faulty area and quickly restore power to unaffected parts of the grid minimizing the duration of distribution interruptions.

They ensure a resilient and reliable electricity supply even in the demanding weather conditions. There is no longer a need to drive around searching for the fault, but fault detection and power restoration are intelligent and efficient.

Substations

In the areas with substantial risk of flooding, we share our extensive knowledge on substations with our customers and consult them on mapping the locations for electrical appliances. There, the placing of primary and secondary substations is of high importance as with careful planning they can be protected from flooding.

We also take harsh climatic conditions into account in the construction materials of substations. For example, the secondary substation is designed to withstand heavy wind loads and constantly changing weather phenomena with a mechanically exceptionally durable and strong structure.

FCCS in Northern Weather Conditions

With the full covered conductor solution, the Swedish DSO Vattenfall achieves a stronger network with a long service life, capable of withstanding northern weather conditions such as snow and ice loads, which strain the line and cause faults.

CSS for Maritime Climate

Iceland’s largest DSO Veitur Utilities was convinced of the durability and climate requirements of Ensto Maviko's smart compact secondary substations (CSS).