Unlocking the Grid | How Telia IoT is Helping Put Green Energy First

There have been so many advances in green energy in recent years that the power grid can’t always keep up. Wind and solar energy vary depending on the weather, but power grids are designed for constant energy sources.

This means the extra energy coming for stronger winds or more hours of sunlight can end up stranded and go to waste.

The solution is to digitalize the grid. Together with our partner, Heimdall Power, Telia is connecting sensors on powerlines to give grid owners real-time visibility of the capacity of different parts of the grid.

This lets them increase the capacity of their lines by up to 25 percent. But just as importantly, it lets them prioritise any extra energy from wind and solar ahead of traditional power sources that rely on fossil fuels. This will play an important role in reducing emissions as more and more renewable energy sources come online.

The connectivity Telia uses to send data from powerlines to the cloud is Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). Telia NB-IoT has far greater reach than traditional IoT technologies, making it ideal for using in remote locations. And because Telia has the most extensive network infrastructure in the Nordics and Baltics, it’s a perfect combination.

”IoT creates a lot of shared value when it comes to sustainability,” says Björn Hansen, Head of Telia IoT. ” Because sustainability doesn’t just mean doing less – it means doing more with less. IoT lets us use resources in a more efficient and sustainable way. This is one of the things that motivates us at Telia IoT – and it’s one of the things that gets me out of bed in the morning. We’ve only got one planet and we all need to play our part in looking after it”.