Towards a Baltic Sea Region Strategy in Critical ... - Helsinki.fi

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION
a way, that they remain at least partly operational when the normal power and
communication systems fail. The sharing of experiencies and ideas across nation
borders becomes an important factor.
2.4 BETTER PREPAREDNESS
After Pyry- and Janika-storms MTI appointed Director General Jarl Forsten to
make an account to how to develop electricity networks and improve their
reliability. One recommendation in Reliability of Electricity Networks -report
(Forsten and Lehtonen 2001) was trying to achieve the six hour maximum
interruption time in electricity blackouts. The electricity companies can choose the
best ways to reach the target, but it would take a long time, because the electricity
networks and its components are long lasting investments, which are renewed
usually after twenty or thirty years. It is also important to develop new methods to
analyse reliability of the electricity networks and improvement actions, so that
forthcoming investments can be made efficiently.
Another recommendation in Reliability of Electricity Networks –report
touched the compensation, which is paid to the customers due the electricity
blackout. The compensation should be based on the real economical costs, which
is caused by the electricity blackouts to the customers, but unfortunately this
information is not available. The compensation cost is also important to electricity
companies, when they are planning their future investments to the electricity
networks or the recruitment of maintenance personnel to speed up repairs. It seems
that the present compensation model, where maximum compensation is 700 euros,
is not working as it should, because the investments in the reliability of electricity
networks or the fast maintenance has not been sufficient as we saw during Pyryand
Janika-storms.
Reliability of Electricity Networks –report also highlighted the meaning of
the co-operation between authorities during the prolonged electricity blackout and
precise and fast information to the public about the area, reason and estimated
duration of electricity blackout.
Soon after the Reliability of Electricity Networks -report started
Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and Tampere University of
Technology (TUT) a research on how to develop electricity networks and improve
their reliability (Partanen et al. 2006). In this research the maximum interruption
times, average interruption times and number of interruptions acted as reliability
indicators. These were then compared to the investment, maintenance and
compensation costs.
The consequences of widespread and long-lasting electricity blackouts can be
reduced by improving the electricity network structure or speeding up the
maintenance. As improving the network structure is expensive, a reasonable tradeoff
between network investments and maintenance costs is required. How large an
electricity blackout is it reasonable to be prepared for and what is the acceptable
maximum down time?
Traditional way to classify electricity blackouts according to SFS-EN 50160
standard is to divide them in three categories:
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