Finland

Successfully weathering the pandemic storm in Finland

For VEO’s business in Finland, 2021 will be remembered as the year when the company’s employees showed great commitment in overcoming unforeseen obstacles in exceptional times.

This first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic was coloured by a lack of raw materials and components, as well as rising prices, which caused delays in VEO’s supply chain and put pressure on the teams – most of them still working remotely. Thanks to a mature risk mitigation process, a professional supply management function, and a highly dedicated workforce, the impact on VEO’s clients could, however, be minimised:

“Working together as one VEO becomes even more important in uncertain markets. The proactivity that our people showed last year was better than ever before and the collaboration between our project teams, procurement and production was admirable. This close interaction allowed us to quickly find new solutions to cover missing parts and delays. In the end, we managed to deliver all our projects to agreed time schedules“, says Visa Yliluoma, Production Director.

 

H1 uncertainty in the engine power market

Uncertainty in the markets caused many clients to postpone their projects in the beginning of 2021, while the latter half of the year was busy to an extreme. This was seen especially in the engine power segment and the very promising hybrid power segment, where the latter half of the year recovered what was lost in the in the first. Calmer times followed by sharp peaks created some troubles in allocating and finding resources, even rented ones.

“Many client projects were delayed or pushed forward by factors outside VEO’s control, which resulted in renewed time schedules and resource allocations. Despite these challenges, we managed to deliver according to our promises and also earn the trust of new major clients”, notes Seppo Hatunen, Vice President, Power Generation.

 

Good cooperation with long-term grid clients

Looking at VEO’s national and regional grid projects in Finland, 2021 was a year of fierce competition, but collaboration continued closely with long-term clients. For Fingrid, VEO finalised a GIS substation in Raahe and continued progressing according to schedule on the large Pysäysperä substation.

In the regional grid, three projects from Vaasan Sähköverkko was won, as well as a significant repeat order from EPV Alueverkko. Investments by utility companies were partly slowed down in 2021 by a dramatic change in the regulation model in the latter part of the year. During the year, VEO’s power distribution teams also worked on updating the VECTOR medium-voltage switchgear with new features. The updated switchgear has been very well received by VEO’s clients.

 

A nice breeze in the wind sector

In 2021, wind power continued its growth in Finland, being one of VEO’s most successful business segments in the country and by far the strongest segment for the power distribution unit. During the year, VEO closed orders with repeat clients, such as Puhuri, but also acquired new ones, such as OX2, Energiequelle, and CPC.

“In recent years, The Finnish wind energy market has largely been operated by local actors, but now, in the past two years, we have seen new companies from abroad coming to Finland. VEO has been able to make these new actors our clients thanks to our extensive list of references in all the Nordic countries and our experience in working with large wind parks and clients. We are seen as a trustworthy supplier with a great modular substation concept”, describes Fredrik Grankull, Vice President, Substations and Power Distribution.

 

Type-tested low-voltage switchgear for the most demanding industry markets

After a quiet 2020, when the heavy industry segment largely hit the brakes on investments, business bounced back in 2021 in the process industry segment, marking a successful year for VEO. The increased activity in the industry sector lasted throughout the year and kept VEO’s industry team busy with everything from smaller projects to more complex system deliveries. Much time was also invested in the development of VEO’s VEDA low-voltage switchgear, important also for VEO’s marine segment.

“Our VEDA development project progressed side by side with our project deliveries last year, and we were happy to see that its motor control central was completed during 2021, adding more value for our clients”, says Jakob Lövdahl, Vice President, Industry.

VEO’s marine team worked last year on a large frame agreement project and delivered large-scale, low-voltage distributions to cruise liners AIDAcosma, built in Meyer Werft Germany, and Costa Toscana, built at the Meyer Turku Shipyard in Finland. In 2021, also an extensive turn-key hybrid solution project was delivered in Finland, combining diesel generators and battery power.

 

Well-positioned in the data centre segment

In 2021, VEO continued its steady work in the hydro power, industrial grid, thermal power, and data centre segments in Finland. Especially the segment for data centres shows promise for the future:

“We expect to see increasing demand for data centre electrification in the Nordics, with discussions ongoing in Finland. We have the capability to deliver complex turn-key solutions and with our production facility in Vaasa we are well-positioned, close to the end-users”, explains Lövdahl.