Vimmerby Energi & Miljö AB improves fault detection and troubleshooting with dLab’s grid data analytics

Utility company Vimmerby Energi & Miljö AB introduced dInsight Analytics Platform from Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) in their entire grid in 2019. Since, dLab’s solution has helped the company to keep track of incidents in the power distribution – from the overlaying grid, in their own grid and even in the customers’ facilities. 

Vimmerby Energi & Miljö AB (Vemab) is a regional utilities company in the middle of Småland, managing heat, electricity, water, and waste for 5000 customers. Vemab’s grid is 350 km of mainly cable, running through the town of Vimmerby and surrounding lands. Two large industries are connected to Vemab’s grid: dairies manufacturer Arla and brewing company Åbro Bryggeri.

- We wanted to keep track of the incidents in the grid in a better way, that is why we chose dLab’s solution. Now we see everything in detail – from incidents in the overlaying grid to incidents in the facilities of our customers, even. To be able to monitor the grid this closely is a great advantage, says Per Svensson, Head of Distribution at Vimmerby Energi & Miljö AB.

Last year, a telling incident occurred; in August dLab’s system signaled for a fault in the north part of Vimmerby, but there was no outage registered. When Vemab’s maintenance team went to the location, it turned out to be a construction site where the excavator operator had accidentally damaged an electrical cable.

- The contractor actually stood there with his phone in his hand, ready to call us, when we turned up, says Per Svensson That incident is such a good example of how quickly we could react, and how our fault detection can be improved using dLab’ solution.

Vemab is actively using dLab’s solution, meaning that the grid operations team check the system on a daily basis, and if something is wrong, they can decide on actions much faster.

- One advantage is that dLab’s system helps us build awareness of the grid’s condition; we can for instance verify that a certain voltage dip in the facilities of one of our customers comes from the overlaying grid or from disturbances in our grid. For industries with sensitive gear, that is very important to know, says Per Svensson.

- It’s great to see that Vemab really uses the data coming from our analytics platform to improve their operations processes – that is the basis of data driven, modern utilities operations, says Fredrik Akke, CTO at dLab.

About Dlaboratory Sweden AB

Dlaboratory Sweden AB (publ) is a Swedish cleantech company offering a digital platform for gathering, analyzing, and presenting condition data for managing the future power grid. Our solutions enable proactive maintenance work, an increased security of supply, and fewer power outages. We are a commercial company since 2015 and the shares are listed at Nasdaq First North GM (DLAB) since April 2021.