Owned by the municipalities of Östersund, Krokom, and Åre, the company accounts for an important part of Sweden’s power supply. It produces 100 percent renewable electricity from solar, wind and hydropower, including bioenergy from forestry products.
Jämtkraft has set a specific target of a fossil fuel-free society by 2030, and it is serious about this ambitious goal. When it buys energy from other companies, it also buys Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) to ensure the energy comes from renewable sources.
Life cycle planning and maintenance services
The origin of energy, however, isn’t the only factor that has an environmental impact – power transmission and distribution from source to customer is equally important. To ensure reliability and efficiency at all times, Jämtkraft views regular infrastructure maintenance as a strategic imperative.
According to Mikael Ericsson, Head of Maintenance in District Heating at Jämtkraft, correctly performed preventive maintenance and modernization actions has quantifiable benefits. “To maintain a secure supply to our customers, we keep a close eye on our equipment so that we know when it is time to replace parts or modernize an entire piece of machinery.” The maintenance actions are primarily based on lifecycle planning for the company’s facilities, an aspect in which ABB is closely involved.
Planned maintenance and modernization work primarily takes place during the summer, the same time as plant overhauls. During summer 2018, for example, ABB modernized three drives with the Drive Retrofit service by retaining the old cabinet and only replacing the parts inside. Three more drives, which were nearing the end of their useful life, were replaced in summer 2019.
“Well-planned modernization delivers both environmental and financial benefits. Unplanned restarts of facilities and systems for heating or electricity are energy-intensive, often in the form of oil. So, the fewer restarts, the better,” says Åke Ludvigsson, an ABB service engineer.
For Jämtkraft, efficiency is a success factor that reflects in its solid financial performance. Energy companies also shoulder an essential social responsibility. In modern society, a power outage or interruption to heating systems can have serious consequences.
High availability and good predictability are therefore critical for Jämtkraft to be able to keep its promise to its customers. And ABB’s drive maintenance schedules and planned product life cycle changes are instrumental in helping Jämtkraft to keep the lights on.
