ELES, Siemens Energy enter strategic partnership to develop digital technologies for electricity grids

ELES, the combined transmission and distribution system operator of the Republic of Slovenia, has signed a memorandum of understanding and entered into a strategic partnership with Siemens Energy to develop advanced digital technologies and smart solutions for the electricity grids.

As part of the partnership, the two companies plan to develop a new digital world, augmented and virtual reality, and robots for inspections of distribution substations. According to the announcement, they will also work on advanced solutions for sensor monitoring of energy infrastructure and create digital twins of high-voltage transmission lines and distribution substations.

ELES and Siemens Energy intend to contribute to reducing the carbon footprint by developing advanced solutions, ELES said.

Mervar: Siemens Energy was looking for a partner and chose ELES

ELES’s CEO Aleksander Mervar stressed that the signing of the memorandum represents a step towards a greener and more sustainable future. He pointed out that his company is considered one of the most advanced grid operators, STA reported.

Siemens Energy has been looking for a partner and it chose ELES because it is one of the few grid operators with a functioning diagnostics and analytical center, Mervar stressed and added it has been involved in digitization for more than a decade. Now it is trying to reach an even higher level of development, according to the head of the Slovenian state-owned company.

Chaudhry: Partnerships like this are key to fostering innovation

Adnan Chaudhry, senior vice president for the digital grid at Siemens Energy, said the signing represents a historic milestone.

In today’s fast-changing energy sector, partnerships like this one are key to fostering innovation to address future challenges, he underscored. The two companies, in Chaudhry’s words, could achieve not only a rapid but also a safe and sustainable green transition.

According to him, cooperation with ELES will enable Siemens Energy to develop and implement state-of-the-art solutions for electricity transmission, equipment condition monitoring, and advanced detection and analysis platforms.

Prešern: The agreement is for advanced solutions to control and manage networks in a safe and reliable way

Siemens Energy’s Vice President for South East Europe Aleš Prešern said that the energy transformation runs through the global energy transmission grids.

With their increasing volatility, projected growth, and complexity, these intricate and extremely vital networks need advanced solutions to control and operate them in a safe and reliable manner, he added.

For Siemens Energy in Slovenia, it comes as a next step after the recent announcement of an agreement to acquire Gridpulse, a Slovenian firm specializing in power line monitoring systems, according to Prešern.