Klinkmann Oy - PVO - Vesivoima and the University of Oulu Create Advanced Turbine Regulators Using AI-Powered Technology from Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, today announced that its industrial computing technology is delivering critical data-based AI instructions for more precise water-turbine control at PVO-Vesivoima’s hydroelectric plants in Finland.

The control solution uses real-time operational data and applies machine learning and AI to identify the interactions that determine the frequency of the electricity grid. The controller then adjusts the hydropower plant's parameters, adapting turbine operation according to the grid frequency. Reduced turbine wear is another positive consequence of this more precise regulation.

“Critical-infrastructure applications, by their very nature, demand the best possible solutions,” said Asa Arvidsson, regional vice president central, east & north region EMEA, at Rockwell Automation. “The use of rack-mounted and edge hardware for AI and machine learning will become more prevalent as autonomous operations start to gain popularity. This is an ideal shop window for the capabilities of such an approach.”

Developed with support from Klinkmann Automation, a Rockwell Automation distributor, and doctorate researchers the University of Oulu, the solution – based on the Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix® Compute module – not only delivers far greater real-time accuracy and efficiency, but the module’s tight integration with the PLC provides a cyber-secure solution.

"I benchmarked all the automation companies, and no one else had a solution for this except Rockwell Automation,” said Tommi Hansen-Haug, operations specialist at PVO-Vesivoima. “A big advantage for us was that we not only had access to the university's superior expertise in control theory and mathematics, but also support from an industrial automation specialist, which itself is a distributor of class-leading hardware and software solutions.”

The new control solution has been created to address the rapid response required for participating in reserve-market power delivery – a regulation from Fingrid, Finland’s state-owned electricity transmission grid operator to maintain the stability of the country’s power grid frequency. To date, PVO-Vesivoima is the only Nordic energy company to meet the stringent new regulations.