An advanced system for energy management in Helsinki

The authors describe the philosophy and implementation of managing the electric and district heating energy supply in Helsinki. The structure of the networks and their interdependence is described as well as the control strategy, handled by a central control system and separate district centres for the electric and district heating networks. The authors emphasise the main control centre with its connections to district centres, neighbouring utility control centres, weather forecast system, energy data collection system, PC-network for statistical calculations and long term planning activities, expert system applications etc. The following forecast and planning applications and their use in real-time as well as in an advanced planning environment of the main control centre are described. Advanced network calculation functions for the electrical and district heating networks in both real-time and in planning mode are also described. The operational and economic benefits of the system are discussed