Finland-based, Safegrid develops the “Intelligent Grid System” (IGS) solution, which helps utilities & grid operators locate, predict & prevent common grid fault-types – e.g. high & low impedance earth faults (EF), intermitted EF, short circuit faults, IO glitches, (re)connected load faults – through cloud-based monitoring & wireless sensors as follows:
- “GridGuardian”: cloud-based monitoring system, which analyses all data from Grayfox & Grayhawk sensors (aka fault passage indicator devices – FPI) (see below). It can operated as a standalone system, with SCADA integration requires (of course, when necessary, deep integration into customers’ systems is available via flexible REST APIs)
- “Grayfox”: FPI sensor specifically for underground cable networks. With these, one can check & locate faults like e.g. corroded insulators (note: all FPI are wireless & self-powered, require no alternations or system shutdowns & can be installed >30 minutes)
- “Grayhawk”: FPI sensor specifically for overhead line networks. With these, one can check & locate errors such as e.g. tree branches touching overhead lines (which can cause fires)
Now, if you’re into industry jargon (& acronyms), you could say that Safegrid IGS results in fast “fault detection, isolation & service restoration” (FLISR), which minimizes “system average interruption duration” (SAIDI) & “system average interruption frequency” (SAIFI). SafeGrid was founded in 2019 by Jussi Hakunti (CEO) & Mika Marjalaakso at the Aalto Startup Center. With friendly support from IoT Forge, commercialization began in 2019 & today the solution is used by <10 customers across Finland & Europe. In doing so, Safegrid ~competes with the likes of Ampacimon (BE) (€4m) & to a certain extend with Envelio (DE) (€7m) (acquired by E.ON) & IQGeo (UK) (<€5m) (IPO), as well as Gridspertise (IT) (subsidiary of Enel Group), with honorable mention to OKTO Grid (DK) (€4m) (which, however, is more focused on monitoring transformers than transmission lines). <Source: ain.capital, iotforge.fi, finsmes.com>
