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Hyvinkään Lämpövoima harness artificial intelligence to work
Hyvinkään Lämpövoima has more than 1,900 district heating connections, which heat more than 12,000 homes in Hyvinkää, Finland. More than 35,000 people live in these homes.
In the coming heating season, the AI of PlantSys® digital service platform will be monitoring Hyvinkään Lämpövoima´s bioheat plant in Veikkari without interruption. KPA Unicon has delivered the plant in 2015. The AI co-operation project has started in autumn 2021.
Cleaner energy is the goal for all
Hyvinkään Lämpövoima has been a pioneer company for more than 40 years.
Since 1990, KPA Unicon has been an advocate and key facilitator of the world’s transition to clean, renewable energy with a dream to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. Together with its partners, KPA Unicon wants to harness energy for good.
“It is important to keep the availability of the Veikkari bioenergy plant at the highest possible level in order to reach our target for the share of bioenergy in district heat production. In addition, rising fossil fuel prices provide an incentive to operate and maintain the plant in the best possible way”, says Otto Kingelin, Production Manager, Hyvinkään Lämpövoima Oy.
In 2020, Hyvinkään Lämpövoima’s share of carbon-neutral heat rose to as much as 95% thanks to Ekolämpö and heat produced with biofuels. At the same time, CO2 emissions covered by emissions trading fell to an all-time low. The Veikkari bioenergy plant is based on pellet dust combustion and is one of the company’s two own bioenergy plants.
“It’s exciting to be able to test new technology and benefit advantages it brings to maintenance,” continues Kingelin.
The aim is to prevent unnecessary downtime
AI-assisted predictive condition monitoring improves overall thermal plant performance and increases availability. Damage is always cheaper to avoid than to repair, because unexpected downtime is production’s worst enemy.
“The PlantSys digital service platform developed by KPA Unicon is evolving rapidly. For example, it enables proactive maintenance of a heating plant, which is cheaper than an unexpected production outage if the equipment has to be repaired. With AI, we are constantly learning more about the results of our work and the environment in which they operate. We are constantly improving our platform, recognising that today’s excellent is tomorrow’s good”, says KPA Unicon’s Chief Digital Officer Joni Räsänen.
The PlantSys® digital service platform is designed for remote plant control and to support automated and efficient energy system optimisation and operation. Innovative software ensures real-time visibility, secure operation and 24/7 support services to ensure production efficiency.
Background information of the PlantSys® Reporting system
The PlantSys® Rreporting system is part of an agile and cost-effective digital service platform from which customers can choose the modules that best suit their needs. The system is delivered from the cloud, so it’s always available wherever there’s an internet connection and works on the latest mobile devices.
The benefits of the system include:
- Up-to-date information always available to everyone
- Designed for power generation plants, based on KPA Unicon’s strong expertise
- Quick and easy to deploy and extend alongside a service contract
- Cost-effective and clear pricing, no long-term commitment
- Active product development and fast user support
- Connectivity to other systems, such as maintenance and control systems
- User-friendly
Read more about the PlantSys® system in here and the webstore.
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