Success in a new market is not a given. One must have a good product, and the company must find the right partners and initial customers to gain a foothold in the market.
While many of Safegrid’s early customers have been from Finland and the Nordic countries, the company has had an international focus from day 1. Spain has been on Safegrid’s radar from early on. We have now successfully entered the Spanish market – thanks to our first customer, Hidroeléctrica El Carmen, and our Spanish reseller and integrator partner, GEDLux.
We sat down with Project Manager Álvaro Lopez of GEDLux and Technical Director Santiago Machacón of Hidroeléctrica El Carmen to discuss their initial experiences of working together with Safegrid.
Safegrid: How did you initially come across Safegrid?
Álvaro López: They contacted us over a year ago and proposed cooperation in Spain and Portugal. We had previously worked with another Finnish company, and that cooperation went well. Also, Safegrid’s timing was perfect, as we were looking for a solution like theirs.
Santiago Machacón: We wanted to locate network faults faster and more accurately. We had researched fault passage detectors directly in the medium voltage network control system, but they did not fulfill our requirements. We had worked with GEDLux on several projects before, and they knew we were looking for a solution. They recently started working with Safegrid and introduced the Safegrid system to us. It seemed like an interesting system that suited our needs and was easy to use and quick to install.
Safegrid: How has working with Safegrid been?
Álvaro López: It has been very easy indeed. Once we completed our technical evaluation and decided to partner with Safegrid, they presented us with a partnership agreement that we found very straightforward and fair. We only needed to discuss some minor details, but overall, we were on the same page from the beginning.
Santiago Machacón: As we knew and trusted GEDLux, it was a pretty easy decision to try Safegrid. Their system also seemed easy to use and quick to install, which has proven to be correct. We are satisfied with the cooperation.
Safegrid: What have been the main benefits of the Safegrid system?
Álvaro López: I think I will let Santiago take that question…
Santiago Machacón: With the Safegrid Intelligent Grid System, we can locate faults with a system that is separate from the Remote Control system. Safegrid also gives us much better location accuracy as the Remote Control System only informs us where the fault has passed, and we have to deduce the actual fault location from that information. We also found it a good idea to have a separate system independent of the primary remote control system. If the remote control system does not communicate, we can still locate the fault with the Safegrid system and then isolate the fault area manually for repairs.
Safegrid: What convinced you to work with an unknown company from Finland?
Álvaro López: As I mentioned, we had previously worked with another Viola Systems from Finland, and that cooperation went very well. Some of the people from Viola had ties with Safegrid, so it was easy for us to trust them. Also, Safegrid’s timing was very good as we were looking for a solution like theirs at the time.
Santiago Machacón: Likewise, we had worked before with GEDLux on many projects, and the results had been good. It was easy to trust them, and they did an excellent job of presenting the solution to us.
Safegrid: How has the technical support been?
Santiago Machacón: We get the local first line of support from GEDLux, so that works really well for us. And I’ve heard from them that they are happy with the support and training they have received from Safegrid.
Álvaro López: Indeed, we provide the first line of support, and our support engineers get their training and support from Safegrid experts. We’ve found that we need less and less support from Safegrid as time goes along, as the systems are easy to learn, and there aren’t many problems.
Safegrid: Is there something in the cooperation that is especially memorable for you?
Álvaro López: Oh, yes. When we were deploying the pilot for our first joint customer, it turned out that more devices were needed than planned. As it would have taken some time for the customer to issue a new purchase order, Jussi and the guys from Finland simply went ahead and sent the necessary devices. This way, we could proceed immediately without any delays. This kind of responsiveness and can-do attitude is something that we really appreciate.
Santiago Machacón: Nice. I actually did not know about that one. From my perspective, quick service restoration to areas affected by faults is essential to us. Also, just recently, we were able to locate and replace a faulty circuit breaker that kept tripping and causing interruptions. Finding this fault saved us a lot of time!
Safegrid: Would you be willing to recommend Safegrid as a partner and a vendor to other companies like yours?
Álvaro López: Well, maybe not in Spain, as we would like to have this market to ourselves (laughs)… But seriously, yes. I have no reservations about recommending Safegrid’s technology and the company. They have a good product and really back it up with their service.
Santiago Machacón: Absolutely! We are satisfied with the Sagefrid solution, and it is quite helpful for us.