Keeping Sira-Kvina workers safe in the Norwegian mountains

The Sira-Kvina Power Company, one of Norway's largest, has selected Sepura STP9000 hand-portable radios for use on its new TETRA communications system.

Sira-Kvina produces 6,300 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy each year. It operates seven hydro-electric power plants that use watercourses in the mountains in the south-west of Norway. Its employees work in a range of demanding environments, from the high mountain tops where the watercourses start, to the tunnels located hundreds of metres deep inside the mountains that house the hydro-electric installations.

The company has a 90% uptime objective for its production facilities and, by law, must be able to maintain internal communications for at least 72 hours, even if regular power supplies are cut off. With its TETRA infrastructure acting as a vital communications system and potential lifeline for its teams, Sira-Kvina needed to be sure the hand-portable radios it selected were powerful enough to make the most of its 15-site TETRA network, and robust enough to continue operating in the cold, wet and snow that are typical of Norway's harsh winters.

By choosing Sepura's STP9000 hand-held radios, the company provided its employees with high-performance, rugged radios that are able to operate in the most physically challenging environments. In addition, the radios' large colour display makes it ideal for viewing images and maps as well as text, and its front-facing loudspeaker provides clear audio in the most extreme climatic conditions.

"Sepura is proud to provide Sira-Kvina with TETRA hand-portables for worker communication and safety that meet the requirements for robust and reliable communications," says Lars-Magnus Gustafsson, International Business Development Manager at Sepura. "With its tough design and proven performance, the STP9000 is more than capable of maintaining communications in Sira-Kvina's demanding operational conditions."