Swedish telco Telia will provide and manage the infrastructure for electricity network operator Ellevio’s data network connecting all 8000 electrical substations.

The ten-year agreement through its subsidiary Telia Cygate will contribute to the energy company’s construction of smart grids, which are playing an increasingly critical role in electricity delivery.

Connecting and digitalising the electricity distribution grid is a necessity for the development of so-called smart grids. This technology is key for the development of a society where dependence on electricity constantly increases on the road to a fossil-free economy.

The smart grid integrates information from all parts of the electricity system, including electricity producers, consumers and those that do both. The smart grid then analyses that information and acts on it, allowing network operators to balance the supply and demand of electricity, even though electricity production may vary with changing weather and wind conditions.

“The electrification of society is one of the big paradigms shifts of our time and is key to both the sustainable transformation of society and our competitiveness as a nation,” said Anders Olsson, CEO for Telia Sweden. “I am proud that Telia has been selected to deliver robust and secure digital infrastructure to Ellevio, and that we have an important role to play on their journey to build smart grids that supply electricity to people, businesses, and society at large in a way that is both cost-efficient and good for the environment.”

The smart grids that Ellevio is building could change how electricity is distributed, consumed and even thought about in the future.

“Building a modern electricity grid which enables more capacity and higher electricity consumption, with fewer and shorter disruptions, requires us to make big investments in modern, digital technology,” said Johan Lindehag, CEO at Ellevio. “The partnership with Telia is an important investment in the future and the first of its kind, digitalising and automating network operations on a large scale.”

In an electricity network, substations are the nodes that monitor and control the distribution of electricity. Under the agreement with Ellevio, Telia and its subsidiary Telia Cygate will deliver the complete infrastructure, including a network management system and network equipment such as routers and switches required to build a packet-based data network to connect all the substations in the grid to Ellevio’s data centre.

Connecting an electricity grid requires robust and secure digital infrastructure with high availability. Telia will be tasked with design, implementation, operations and the continuous development of the infrastructure used in Ellevio’s packet-based data network.