Elering reduces number of outages by half

Elering reduced the number of outages in the transmission network by half in 2016, reaching the level of 100 outages in the year. Consumers were left without electricity only in the extent of annual electricity consumption of a few private households, which makes up a negligible amount compared with the over 13 terawatt-hours of electricity transmitted through Elering’s network during the year.

Improved reliability in the transmission network is primarily due to the investments made in lines and substations to improve reliability. “A significant positive influence for security of supply has been due to the work in recent years to clear the protection zones around overhead lines of bushes and dangerous trees. The decrease in tripping is even more valuable considering that the transmission network’s installation count and line length has grown steadily,” said chairman of the Elering board, Taavi Veskimägi.

During the period of 2011–2015, there were an average of 200 outages per year in the transmission network.

Last year, 67 megawatt-hours of electricity remained undelivered to clients due to outages in transmission network equipment. Considering the amount of energy passing through the transmission network, this makes up a very small volume of energy, being comparable with the annual electricity consumption of seven private homes.

Where trees which had fallen on power lines constituted the main cause of undelivered energy just a few years ago, this cause was now pushed into second place. In 2016, the largest portion of electricity – 36 megawatt-hours – was undelivered due to outages caused by outdated equipment. The third-largest cause of undelivered energy was animal and bird activity, and the fourth automatic equipment malfunction.

In addition, reliability indicators for the EstLink 1 and 2 connections between Estonia and Finland for the past year were the best in Elering’s history. EstLink 2 was in use for nearly 96 per cent of all last year’s hours, while the same figure for EstLink 1 was over 98 per cent.