“VEO assured us that our project schedule would not suffer. They kept their promise. The new control panels were delivered to Juankoski according to plan,” Räsänen praises.
The development continued. During 1995–1996 VEO offered Savon Voima even more comprehensive and integrated solutions – turbine generators with automation.
The automation delivery for the Atro power plant in 1998 also included vacuum circuit breakers and generator protection relays. In 2006 a brand new turbine was ordered for the power plant in Sorsakoski, built in 1935. On recommendation from VEO, Savon Voima chose the turbine of Czech Mavel.
“Many groups of visitors have later come to see and admire at this speciality,” Räsänen points out. Around the same time, Savon Voima also implemented mobile controls, by means of which the control centre could be bypassed if needed.
“At first we used Q-Tech equipment, which was later replaced by Nokia Communicators – Finnish technology to our pride and joy. In 2012 the data security was improved when we transferred to Citrix software,” Räsänen recalls.
The partnership between VEO and Savon Voima has included ten significant power plant upgrade projects and numerous service and maintenance contracts.
“In 2015 we are upgrading the local automation at the hydropower plant in Liuna. This will be the tenth large project we complete together. With VEO we have a mutual understanding. Strong technical expertise, flexibility, continuity and economic stability are important to us. VEO meets all of these criteria,” Räsänen concludes.