2/2009

Oyj Fingrid Corporate magazine Corporate

This is how a transmission line comes about page 10

Finnish grid – 80 years of developments page 16 In this issue:

3 Editorial | 80 years in the centre of infrastructure

4 “We live in a world of changing threats,” says Minister Jyri Häkämies. A serious disturbance in the electricity infrastructure has been raised as one of the foremost threat scenarios in Finland.

7 Grid connects now and in the future | Fingrid has worked out alterna- tive scenarios of the operating environment, with the time perspective FINGRID until 2030. Three alternative models for potential trends in electricity Corporate magazine consumption and generation are presented. Fingrid Oyj 12th volume 9 Column | “Values and values” by Kari Kuusela 2/2009 10 This is how a transmission line comes about | Photographs show how Editorial staff a reliable transmission line is built using modern technology, traditional expertise and skilled workforce. Telephone: +358 (0)30 395 5153, Fax: +358 (0)30 395 5196 13 Project Manager Ritva Laine’s work begins where the EIA procedure of Postal address: P.O.Box 530, a line project finishes. FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland Street address: Arkadiankatu 23 B, Helsinki 15 In brief www.fingrid.fi Editor-in-Chief: Tiina Miettinen 16 80 years of power for Finland | In its jubilee year, the Finnish transmis- E-mail: [email protected] sion grid is active and in good strength. Editorial board: Eija Eskelinen, Mikko Jalonen, 22 Reija Kuronen, Kaija Niskala, Arto Pahkin, Landscape towers are landmarks | In some cases they are even works of environmental art. Petri Parviainen, Tiina Seppänen Design by bbo, Better Business Office Oy / 23 Transmission lines through the eyes of local people Maria Hallila and Tuija Sorsa Translation by Kielipaja Hannu Hakala 25 Should I build a house next to a power line? | People are concerned over the impacts of electric and magnetic fields of transmission lines. Published by Research results show that this concern is undue. Fingrid Oyj 27 Know the terms | Quantities used in conjunction with electromagnetic fields Cover photograph: The work of Project Manager Ritva 28 Laine is described on pages 13–14. Photograph by Ju- Birds seldom collide with transmission lines | Based on the research findings, transmission lines in the nation-wide grid seldom pose a sig- hani Eskelinen. nificant threat to birds.

Printed by Libris Oy, Helsinki 30 Inspectors take care of the lines | Line inspections are used for record- ISSN 1456-2693 ing more than 10,000 observations per year, making up the foundation of transmission line maintenance.

32 Regular management of trees guarantees system security of trans- mission lines

34 Grid ABC | Static VAR Compensator in Kangasala

36 Eyes on nature | Night birds

38 In brief

39 Grid Quiz | Competition to readers FINGRID 2/2009 | 2 Editorial

80 years in the centre of infrastructure

On 16 January 1929, voltage was con- Reliable availability of electric- owned by the Nordic transmission sys- nected for the first time to the first ity is a vital national competitive edge. tem operators (TSOs). The Nordic mar- 110 kilovolt trunk transmission line in Finnish system security and cost ef- ket is integrating both with the market Finland, from the new Imatra hydro- ficiency in electricity transmission around the Baltic Sea and with north- power plant to Vyborg in the south and represent top grade globally. These ern Continental Europe. The volume Helsinki and Turku in the west. When have been achieved by focusing on the of electricity exchange trade will grow the line was completed, some thought problems thoroughly and by applying tenfold while at the same time trading that Finland would never consume all new technology open-mindedly. Close will intensify and the proportion of in- the electricity generated by the large co-operation between the users, sci- dividual players in electricity trade will power plant in Imatra. That was a entific communities and equipment decrease. wrong notion. manufacturers has always been char- Finland is now adapting its national The nation-wide transmission grid acteristic of the Finnish transmission economy to the European energy and has grown with the Finnish society business. This has resulted in the best climate strategy. Fingrid is involved in and its needs. It now covers more than methods suited for the Finnish condi- this by having a crucial role in European 14,000 kilometres of lines and over 100 tions. Many pioneering solutions, such TSO co-operation. The new organisa- substations. The grid contains almost as the use of the light guyed tower and tion ENTSO-E is a visible indication of 700 connection points, to which the a meshed grid which improves system this co-operation. ENTSO-E is to create factories, power plants and distribu- security, have been among the great comprehensive binding rules for the tion networks have been connected. success factors. Later, automation of development of the European power The power system covering the whole substations and power plants together system regionally so that they corre- of Finland constitutes the largest na- with their centralised operation control spond to the needs of the electricity tional infrastructure with the most added to system security and reduced market both in terms of the capacity of widespread­ impacts. the costs. A long leap forward in cost grids and system security. The climate The Finnish transmission grid has efficiency was taken in the early 1990s, objectives will not be realised unless always been planned and built in a when outsourcing and competitive bid- the European grids are improved to competitive set-up. From the begin- ding were introduced to the construc- conform to the changing production ar- ning, private industries aimed to se- tion and maintenance of the grid. chitecture and especially to the power cure electricity supply to their plants Finland joining the EU and goals to regulation needs of the rapidly increas- irrespective of projects undertaken by liberalise the European energy market ing wind power. the state-owned Imatran Voima. On the led to the establishment of Fingrid Oyj In the next decade, Fingrid will spend other hand, building the energy produc- (initially Suomen Kantaverkko Oy) in the almost 2,000 million euros in reinforc- tion and power transmission architec- autumn of 1996. It took over the lines ing and renovating the Finnish grid. ture in a poor country such as Finland and substations of the network com- This is roughly half of the replacement in the 1920s also called for the devel- panies of Imatran Voima and Pohjolan value of the present grid. The capital opment and use or cost-efficient do- Voima and a little later the correspond- investments contribute to the national mestic technology solutions. This was ing parts of the network in the Kemijoki energy and climate strategy by creat- boosted by the rapid growth of heavy region. These were among the rapid ing conditions for the construction of industries, required by the war repara- developments towards a Nordic elec- the necessary base load power capac- tions after the war, and harnessing of tricity market, where trading in a single ity and renewable energy production. hydropower in the north to serve the exchange guarantees that electricity is The backbone of Finnish society keeps needs of industrialising Finland. Cost produced and transmitted to consump- growing, but more clearly so as part of efficiency was also highlighted later as tion from power plants with the most the European electricity market. the pace of industrialisation grew and inexpensive costs. Thousands of gen- as the national economy became even eration units are controlled automati- more energy-intensive. The nation- cally on the basis of a price determined wide grid was expanded especially in by demand and supply, without a cen- the 1970s, when the first large coal and tralised control system. Some 70 per Matti Tähtinen is Fingrid Oyj’s Senior nuclear power plants were connected cent of all Nordic electricity trade takes Vice President responsible for to the grid. place through the electricity exchange stakeholder relations.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 2 FINGRID 2/2009 | 3 Weather phenomena are the most common cause for disturbances in the power system.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 4 Minister Jyri Häkämies: It is necessary to make preparations for threats

Text by Tiina Miettinen Photographs by Vastavalo and Erkki Laine

Our society relies on technical systems. Dependence on electricity in particular has increased considerably. This is why a serious disturbance in the electricity infrastructure has been raised as one of the foremost threat scenarios in Finland. “We live in a world of changing threats,” says Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies.

he Council of State supervises er contingency planning. We com- contingency planning for various piled a work group in our ministry to Tdisturbances and extraordinary draw up an analysis of the impacts of situations in Finland. A few years ago, a long blackout on vital functions. This the Government accepted a strategy work was completed in early summer. for securing the vital functions of soci- I hope that the good practices and rec- ety, used for integrating the contingen- ommendations presented in the relat- cy plans in the various branches of ad- ed report become reality,” is how Jyri ministration. Häkämies, Minister of Defence and The strategy describes those func- minister responsible for state owner- tions that need to be kept running un- ship steering, comments on the con- der all circumstances. Electronic com- tingency planning. munications and data communications as well as energy supply systems are Practical guidelines for authorities considered especially important is- sues. The work group studying contingen- Disturbances in the power system are cy planning completed its extensive most commonly caused by bad weath- report at the end of May. The report The electricity transmission grid re­ er. Sleet, lightning, packed snow or an presents in very practical terms what presents critical infrastructure in ice storm are threats arranged by na- blackouts would mean to issues such terms of the functioning of society. ture on overhead lines. Moreover, ter- as water supply and waste water ser­ The government hence must have a rorism or intrusion into data networks vices, food supply, transport, health chance to make important decisions are other threats that require contin- care and monetary transactions, and concerning it, says Minister of Defence gency plans for the power system also how authorities can make preparations Jyri Häkämies, who is also responsi- in Finland. for disturbances. ble for state ownership steering. The Finnish Ministry of Defence car- Local administrations have a crucial ries responsibility for integrating over- role in the preparations, because they all national defence and for contingen- are responsible for arranging many vi- cy planning for various situations. tal functions also during normal cir- “We live in a world of constant- cumstances. The report contains sev- ly changing threats, and it is impera- eral examples and guidelines, also for tive to take these threats into account communications when there is no elec- in emergency supply efforts and oth- tricity.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 4 FINGRID 2/2009 | 5 “The principle stated in the climate and energy strategy to tary contingency planning by business- increase domestic self-sufficiency in electricity generation es provide sufficient supply security, or is a step in the correct direction.” do you think that there is a need for in- creased governmental control and in- In many cases, a power failure is over gency planning. The climate and ener- struction? even before you notice it. Long black- gy strategy of the Government of Fin- “There are about 2,000 enterprises outs are rare occurrences also in sta- land states that Finland should be self- in Finland which are critical in terms tistical terms, but not impossible. sufficient in electricity generation also of emergency supply. They have drawn There have been long power cuts in during peak load situations. up their contingency plans and partic- Europe, also in the Nordic countries. At the moment, Finland relies on ipated in various preparedness exer- Severe storms have left hundreds of electricity imported from Russia when cises. This work has taken place under thousands of people without electricity the weather is very cold. The compet- the control of supply security organisa- in Finland, too. In extreme cases, heavy itiveness of Finnish condensing pow- tions on a voluntary basis and in an ex- storms or other natural phenomena er on the market has deteriorated as cellent spirit of co-operation. Regula- can cause significant damage to the a result of emissions trading, and old tion is a commonly accepted procedure power grid, and it may take days to re- condensing power plants are under a in extraordinary circumstances pre- pair the damage. threat of being decommissioned. scribed by emergency powers legisla- Jyri Häkämies thinks that self-suf- tion,” Häkämies says. Assistance from ficiency should be attained by using The Finnish electricity transmission the Defence Forces? a versatile energy mix. He considers grid has also been constructed and de- that satisfying the power need during a veloped in the name of co-operation In serious disturbances, repairs will peak load is a special challenge. and responsibility for 80 years. The ob- likely be hampered by scant personnel “In Finland, old electricity generation jective has been as high system securi- resources. Fingrid and electricity net- capacity has been secured by means of ty in electricity transmission as possi- work operators have outsourced trans- an act so as to ensure supply securi- ble, and securing sufficient transmis- mission line maintenance and ser­vice ty during peak load situations. It is still sion capacity for the market. We asked to service providers. The electricity important to replace old generation ca- the minister to send a message to Fin- business may require assistance from pacity with new capacity which is avail- grid and its employees. the Defence Forces in very serious dis- able at all times,” Häkämies points The message is encouraging, be- turbance situations. out. cause Jyri Häkämies feels that Fingrid However, Minister Häkämies points “Additional hydropower has its limi- has succeeded well in its basic duty. out that Finland has not had exten- tations, and the continuous availabili- “The security of supply in Finland sive blackouts, like for example Swe- ty of wind power in Finland is not good. represents top grade on an interna- den, and the resource shortage has not Only nuclear power provides a non- tional scale. Imatran Voima and its been a topical problem yet. emission alternative in a large scale. successor Fingrid have long traditions “Power cuts have a fairly short dura- Overall, it is the versatile electrici- in emergency supply and contingency tion in Finland, which is partly due to the ty generation architecture in Finland planning. I see no reason why this good stricter statutory damages to be paid to that will ensure our emergency supply. approach would not continue within electricity users,” Häkämies says. The principle stated in the climate and Fingrid.” The use of the Defence Forces also energy strategy to increase domestic “Fingrid has been exemplary in the involves safety risks. self-sufficiency in electricity genera- way in which it knows and carries its “Repairing power cuts is dangerous tion is a step in the correct direction,” responsibility for emergency supply work and calls for professional skills. Häkämies says. efforts. I hope that our internationally Conscripts cannot be used for such original transmission grid system will work. On the other hand, it is possible Positive message continue to retain its high system secu- to also use conscripts in support duties to the 80-year-old grid rity level. This will call for development relating to the repairs. Special machin- work, and I believe that Fingrid has the ery possessed by the Defence Forces Vital functions of society have tradition- ability and willingness for it,” Minister could also be of assistance in these sit- ally been secured in Finland in co-op- Häkämies states. uations,” Häkämies states. eration with businesses. This has in- volved collaboration within the Nation- Towards self-sufficiency al Emergency Supply Council togeth- er with the National Emergency Sup- Increasing the energy self-sufficien- ply Agency. cy in Finland contributes to contin- Does market economy and volun-

FINGRID 2/2009 | 6 GRID connects now and in the future

“Fingrid updates the scenarios for the operating environment at intervals of a couple of years so that we can keep our Fingrid together with the Technical Research Centre of Finland antennae up. We aim to come up with has worked out alternative scenarios concerning the company’s a limited number of sufficiently var- operating environment. The scenarios are based on climate ied scenarios to serve as the basis of change and on the impacts of its control on the power system. long-term grid planning,” Jussi Jyrin- The time perspective of the scenarios extends to 2030, and salo says. three alternative models for potential trends in electricity consumption and generation are presented.

Text by Tiina Miettinen Photographs by Juhani Eskelinen and FutureImageBank

t the beginning of this year, Fin- were the starting point for the scenar- The integration of the European elec- grid launched the drawing up of io work. tricity market will advance, and more Ascenarios for alternative trends “It is more and more difficult to fore- and more decision-making will be that will have an impact on the struc- cast the trend in electricity generation shifted to the EU level. The EU will have ture of the electricity transmission grid and consumption and their geographi- a single electricity market by 2030, and over the next two decades. The alter- cal location. We come up with scenari- the market prices of electricity in the native scenarios are needed as a basis os involving different types of electrici- various parts of Europe will converge. of long-term grid planning, among oth- ty transmission needs. When we define In Finland, electricity consumption will er things. The work was carried out in the grid and reserve power reinforce- grow somewhat as a result of electrifi- a work group by creating and defining ments required by these various sce- cation which will increase due to higher various alternative scenarios for the narios, we can make advance prepa- energy efficiency. Approximately 4,000 future. rations for reinforcements required by megawatts of wind power capacity will In the initial stages, the work group all of the alternative scenarios. We can be constructed in Finland by 2030. examined the long-term climate and specify our own plans later in line with In this scenario, the market pric- energy strategy published by the Finn- developments in the electricity mar- es of electricity will vary dramatically, ish Ministry of Employment and the ket,” Jyrinsalo says. the share of wind power will increase, Economy together with the target track electricity demand peaks will fluctuate and basic track scenarios described Wind power to fight climate change rapidly, and there will be more trans- in it. After this, various approaches for mission connections to the electricity the prevention of climate change were In alternative “Wind produces – grid market in Continental Europe. Both the worked out from the viewpoint of the unites”, the focus is on the prevention long-term and intra-day need for pow- power system. of climate change and on an increase er regulation will grow. Jussi Jyrinsalo, Senior Vice Presi- in renewable energy. Governments both “In this scenario, it would be impor- dent responsible for system develop- in Europe and elsewhere will endeav- tant for Fingrid that the wind power ment at Fingrid, says that the operat- our to fight climate change, and the EU capacity is located in a decentralised ing environment changes rapidly, and countries will be committed to stringent manner geographically. This facilitates that preparations for these changes emissions reduction requirements. transmission management and main-

FINGRID 2/2009 | 6 FINGRID 2/2009 | 7 Climate and energy strategy

Target track specified by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy • Electricity consumption will decrease and will be 95 TWh in 2030 • EU 20-20-20 goals fulfilled • Self-sufficiency in electricity generation • Wind power capacity 2,000 MW

Basic track specified by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy • EU 20-20-20 goals not fulfilled • Electricity market integration remains unchanged • Electricity consumption will continue to grow and will be 108 TWh in 2030 • Self-sufficiency in electricity generation • Condensing power and CHP will increase their shares

Matrix of transmission grid scenarios

Varying electricity generation, inaccurate daily generation forecast WIND PRODUCES – GRID UNITES - Focus: control of climate change, increase in renewable energy, solid integration - No requirement concerning self-suffi- ciency - 20% of electricity consumption generat- SISU (NATIONAL ASPECT) ed by wind power in the Nordic countries - Focus: energy security, national energy pol- icy, protection of domestic market - Electricity market integration will slow National down International aspect - New generation capacity in domestic re- co-operation newable energy

EVEN GENERATION – LARGE UNITS • Focus: control of climate change, large units, integration • Several new nuclear power units will be built in Finland

Even electricity generation, exact daily generation forecast

taining of power balance. There would to a great extent. Climate change will electricity exporter, and cross-border probably also be a greater need for fast- primarily be fought by technology, not transmission connections will be built regulating power production, and the so much by controlling the demand for from Finland to other market areas. regulation power market should evolve energy. “What is essential for Fingrid in this further. Demand elasticity should also The integration of the pan-European scenario is the increasing use of nu- be increased. There would probably energy market will make progress, and clear power. The need for disturbance be a need for additional transmission the Nordic market area will have been reserves has to be verified as the siz- links from Finland to the neighbouring connected to the transmission grid in es of production units grow. The con- countries, but the transmission needs Continental Europe. In Finland and the struction of several new nuclear pow- would vary greatly between different other Nordic countries, products made er units would require new grid con- times,” Jussi Jyrinsalo says. by the energy-intensive industries will struction projects. Grid planning co- continue to enjoy good demand, and operation within the region of the Bal- Even production in large units industrial electricity consumption will tic Sea would have greater significance grow slightly. when new electricity export opportuni- The control of climate change is also in Several new nuclear power units will ties to other parts of Europe would be focus in the scenario “Even generation be built in Finland, and a total of 2,000 planned,” Jyrinsalo sums up this sce- – large units”, but the politically cho- MW of wind power capacity will be con- nario. sen means will rest on nuclear power structed by 2030. Finland will be an

FINGRID 2/2009 | 8 National approach power generation will conform to the attention to the new technologies and climate and energy strategy. ageing of the grid so that the basic ren- The third scenario, called “Sisu”, sug- “In this scenario, the grid would be ovation needs and needs for new con- gests that national protectionism will planned from a national basis, but the struction projects can be integrat- gain a firm foothold. Moreover, no need for cross-border connections is ed wherever possible,” Jussi Jyrinsalo agreement on the emissions reduc- also influenced by energy solutions says. tion goals will be reached. On the oth- in our neighbouring countries,” Jussi The scenarios are updated as neces- er hand, national interests will be high- Jyrinsalo says. sary. Updates may be needed by issues lighted also in energy policy, and the such as new climate policy decisions. EU’s integration developments will not “Antennae up” “We will keep our antennae up. We progress as planned. Electricity will must have up-to-date plans for vari- be generated from renewable domes- The planning work continues on the ous developments at all times. Pan- tic fuels whenever possible, and in oth- basis of the alternative scenarios. Now European scenarios are also emerging er respects generation is based on coal that the scenarios have been defined, alongside national scenarios,” Jyrin- and nuclear power. modelling of the electricity market salo points out. Electricity consumption will grow and the power system will be used for The work group for the transmission very little in the Nordic countries. The finding out what types of transmission grid scenarios for 2030 consisted of use of biomass fuels in traffic appli- needs are required by each of the sce- Ilkka­ Savolainen, Seppo Hänninen and cations will increase as the goal is to narios. The specification of the neces- Maija Ruska of the Technical Research boost self-sufficiency. The electrici- sary grid reinforcements, in turn, calls Centre of Finland as well as Hannu ty generation architecture will remain for more precise network planning. Maula, Kaija Niskala, Pekka Sulamaa almost unchanged from present. Wind “At this stage, we also have to pay and Maarit Uusitalo of Fingrid.

The same certainly applies to the transmission grid. If you examine an in- Column dividual grid component, its value is de- termined by age. But when looking at the Finnish transmission grid as a func- tioning whole, its value is crucially influ- enced by the way in which it has been developed, operated and maintained. Values and values The grid owned by Fingrid has been kept in a good condition for decades by was recently asked what the value different ages, and an age reduction renewing regularly aged and faulty parts of the nation-wide transmission grid can be specified for them. Then, all you and by servicing it so that in actual fact Iis. “That’s an easy one,” I thought to have to do is to add together the values some parts of the system are as good myself. The value of the nation-wide of the components, which gives a sum as new. The new sections of the grid are transmission grid in Finland – trans- of about 2,000 million euros. procured so that they are well compat- mission lines, substations and reserve Now we have two values, 3,800 mil- ible with the other sections of the grid. power plants – is its replacement val- lion euros and 2,000 million euros. Is The intelligence of the grid to withstand ue, in other words 3,800 million euros, either sum the correct answer, or is the various extreme situations is also be- and that’s it. truth somewhere in-between? ing developed continuously. All this is Or…is that it? Maybe we should think The difficulty of defining value re- reflected in a high quality so that the about this a bit more, because surely it minded me of my motor boat, which transmission reliability of the grid rep- cannot be that straightforward. First of was 5 years old when its motor was resents six sigma level. all, it is difficult to define what the re- stolen. When the insurance company The value of the grid could also be de- placement value is. It means the price specified the present value of my mo- fined by seeking an answer to the ques- that would have to be paid if the present tor, its age reduction was tens of per tion of what the grid accomplishes: transmission lines and substations cent. I had to pay this age reduction to keeping the lights on in Finland, and a would have to be procured entirely new. get a new motor. On the other hand, I functioning electricity market. Howev- But the grid is not new, it has been used found out that if I had sold my boat with er, it is a whole different story to find out for a length of time. the old motor before the theft, I would this value. An alternative answer could be that have obtained the same price that I had Kari Kuusela the value of the grid is its present value. paid when I bought the boat 5 years Fingrid’s Executive Vice President, The grid is composed of components of earlier. responsible for asset management

FINGRID 2/2009 | 8 FINGRID 2/2009 | 9 This is how a trans­ mission line comes about

The construction of an electricity transmission line begins by digging the foundations and finishes with the final cleaning and clearing of ditches in conjunction with the earthing work for the line. Between these, there are a number of work stages, all of which need to be carried out punctually, sustainably and safely. This article presents how a solid and reliable transmission line is built using modern technology, traditional expertise and skilled workforce. Our guide presenting the various stages of the work is Fingrid’s Project Manager Ritva Laine.

Text by Maria Hallila Photographs by Juhani Eskelinen and Jari-Pekka Karhu

4.

3.

2. 5.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 10 8.

6. 7.

1. A transmission line tower stands material. This prevents the mixing of firmly when its foundation is rigid and various soil types. secure. Building the foundation is hence a critical stage. How laborious 3. If the soil is very soft, the tower and demanding this is depends on the foundations must be piled so deep that 9. ground conditions. Firm moraine is the a load-bearing soil layer is reached. best soil type in view of the building of a The piling depth is usually 3 to 12 me- transmission line. tres, but it may sometimes be neces- The tower foundation can be made sary to drive the piles as deep as 40 of prefabricated elements, or it can metres for example when building the be cast at the site. Prefabricated foun- foundations in old seabed. dation elements are usually used for guyed towers, i.e. ones equipped with a 4. The location – distance from the support wire, while large self-support- foundation and height – of the guy wire ing towers require a sturdier cast-in- must be measured accurately. place foundation. The more difficult the terrain, the Fingrid’s transmission lines are usu- more skills and experience are need- ally built using guyed steel towers. ed in the various work stages. In terms 10. Self-supporting lattice towers are used of the reliable operation and safety of in places where the line turns or ends the line, it is imperative that the towers ers are assembled on the ground, each and in areas with a limited right-of-way have the correct position and that they close to its erection site. width, such as urban areas. do not lean. The photograph shows assembly In the photograph, the foundation el- work at Fingrid’s site for the Ulvila- ement of a tower leg is being lowered 5. The foundation of a large self-sup- Kangasala line in the autumn of 2008. into the foundation pit at Fingrid’s Kit- porting tower is usually cast in place. tilä-Vajukoski line site in the early win- The area of the foundation may corre- 9. Fingrid’s new transmission line ter of 2008. The line runs – like in many spond to the building area of a small towers are made of steel. The tubular cases in Lapland – across large bogs, single-family house. Building of moulds towers are made primarily in Finland, which is why the foundation work needs for the columns in progress in the pho- but lattice-structured towers are also to be carried out in the winter; it is im- tograph. imported from countries such as Chi- possible to use machinery on the bogs na and Turkey. when the ground is not frozen. 6. The guy wire of the tower also Before beginning the lifting, it must needs strong and firm fastening, be- be ensured that the pin at the head of 2. The building of tower foundations cause it is subject to a heavy tension the foundation element matches the on bogs requires more work stages load in the direction of the wire. The hole in the lower part of the tower leg. than other types of soil. Soft clay soil anchor slab of the guy weighs several can also be problematic for a transmis- hundreds of kilos. The slab is embed- 10. Lifting of tower in progress. The sion line project. ded in the ground, and the soil layer on steel tower weighing approx. 7 tonnes The backfilling material used in the top of it must keep the slab reliably in goes up prompted by a caterpillar, with foundation pit above the prefabricated place. The guy is fastened to the con- an auxiliary boom used to assist the element has been brought to the site crete anchor slab using a U-bolt. erection work. from elsewhere – the soft boggy soil The erection of a guyed tower repre- is not suited for tower foundations. A 7.-8. When the foundations are com- sents typical Finnish expertise. In oth- mould is installed around the founda- plete, the parts of the transmission line er parts of the world, the transmission tion element and filled with backfilling tower are brought to the site. The tow- lines are built using self-supporting

FINGRID 2/2009 | 10 FINGRID 2/2009 | 11 towers. At a modern line site, the erec- The conductors are nowadays in- tion of towers proceeds at a pace of a stalled so that they travel in the air few towers a day. throughout the work (tension string- ing method). This prevents them from 11.-12. The tower has been erect- breaking or being damaged. ed. The guys can now be fixed and tight- When the conductors and spac- ened. ers are in place, the new line is al- most ready. In order to secure electri- 13. The last stage in the building of a cal safety, the towers are provided with transmission line is to install the con- additional earthing by installing copper ductors. Based on their operating prin- earthing conductors in the ground. The ciple, the towers can be categorised earthing can extend more than 50 me- 11. into suspension towers and tension tres from the tower. towers. In suspension towers, the insu- In conjunction with earthing work, lator strings hang down from the cros- the tower site is levelled and cleaned of sarms, while in tension towers the in- construction debris. It is also checked sulators strings are horizontal. that the nearby ditches and culverts are open. After this, the line can be ener- gised.

Progress of a transmission line project

Construction Permit process 12. Preliminary route planning EIA procedure Preliminary planning of route alternatives EIA programme Preliminary alternative environmental impacts Statement by contact authority Elimination of alternatives EIA report Statement by contact authority Selection of final route alternative and decision on launching general design Survey permit Competitive bidding for design State Provincial Office

General design Construction permit Field investigations Determining the necessity for the line Location planning of towers Energy Market Authority Prevention and mitigation of drawbacks Structural engineering Expropriation procedure Capital investment decision Competitive bidding for construction work Expropriation permit decision Council of State Advance seizure decision Construction stage Expropriation committee Removal of trees Construction work Final review Repairing damage caused during construction work Compensation matters Expropriation committee Acceptance inspection

Ongoing transmission line construction projects in the Finnish grid

• 400 kV Keminmaa–Petäjäskoski • 220 kV Petäjäskoski–Valajaskoski–Isoniemi • 220 kV Isoniemi–Vajukoski • 110 kV Inkoo–Karjaa • 110 kV Hikiä–Vanaja • 110 kV Nurmijärvi–Ruotsinkylä 13. • 110 kV Salo–Kemiö

FINGRID 2/2009 | 12 Fingrid’s extensive grid invest- ment programme means busy times for Project Manager Ritva Laine. The company has a dozen or so major transmission line projects in progress or about to start soon.

Project Manager Ritva Laine: “EIA is a GOOD FORUM for the preparation of transmission line projects”

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure goes The boosted voltage level here, like through the impacts of a transmission line project on the in many other parts of the nation-wide environment even before the final planning of the line begins. grid, is related to a need to upgrade the According to Fingrid’s Project Manager Ritva Laine, the transmission capacity of the grid. This implementation times of projects have been extended by about is prompted by the ageing of the grid and by the plan of the Government of one year by EIA, but on the other hand the expropriation and Finland to increase renewable energy construction stages have become easier than before. production considerably and to poten- Text by Maria Hallila Photographs by Juhani Eskelinen tially construct additional nuclear pow- er capacity. he work of a project manager in mi–Kittilä and Kittilä–Vajukoski, with a a transmission line project be- total length of 250 line kilometres. It is important to be heard Tgins where the EIA finishes. This In the early part of this year, she was is how Ritva Laine outlines her present also assigned the project for the 400 The EIA process of the 400 kilovolt trans- job description. She is currently re- kilovolt line between Vaasa and Seinä- mission line project Pori/Tahkoluoto– sponsible for two 220 kilovolt trans- joki in Western Finland. The new line Kristiinankaupunki was also complet- mission line projects securing electric- will replace the present 110 kilovolt line ed recently, so the actual planning of ity supply in Western Lapland: Rovanie- in the region. the line can commence.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 12 FINGRID 2/2009 | 13 Ritva Laine says that she participates roads, bridges and ditches are dam- in the EIA procedure of her projects aged. whenever possible. “Landowners also seem to fear that “In this way, I know fairly well what someone comes to work on their land problems can be expected and what without them being informed of this in critical issues may emerge when the advance.” actual project begins,” she says. Ritva Laine says that such neglect can- Ritva Laine considers the EIA pro- not happen when the new procedure is cedure as a useful and functioning fo- followed. She emphasises that Fingrid rum, where matters related to the line has made considerable input in instruct- project can be subjected to discussion ing the contractors in recent years. in good time, before actual planning “One of the foremost aspects that we and engineering. use when assessing the quality of the “When people have had an oppor- contractors’ work is how well they have tunity to express their opinions, fears, maintained contacts with the landown- wishes and threats, it is easier to pro­ ers.” cess these things in the later stages,” However, the feedback that a project she says. manager obtains from the area of the According to her, the benefits of the transmission line is not exclusively neg- EIA procedure are reflected in expe- ative. Ritva Laine says that she has also dited and facilitated expropriation and received thanks for issues such as re- construction stages. pairs of defects or shortcomings. She is delighted by the increased mutual un- Knowledge dispels distrust derstanding in discussions concerning the location of towers and technical so- Ritva Laine is a farmer’s daughter and lutions applied. still lives in a countryside environment; her brother continues agriculture at Strength calculation the farm. Due to her background, she specialist’s background can regard and assess the impacts of a transmission line project from a land- Ritva Laine, Master of Science in me- owner’s viewpoint. chanical engineering, is specialised in Those living and working near a strength calculations for steel struc- transmission line nowadays tend to tures. She has spent most of her work have a matter-of-fact attitude towards career with electricity transmission the projects. “Nobody actually loves lines. She worked formerly in engineer- the lines and landowners do not wish ing and shifted to the position of project to have them on their land, but most of manager for transmission line projects them can still see them as necessary in 1994. In the early part of this decade, and accept them,” she says. she worked as Fingrid’s environmental She adds that the change in attitudes manager for a couple of years and then has been clearly promoted by Fingrid’s returned to project work. active communications and also by the “Transmission lines have become fa- changes in the company’s procedures. miliar to me from almost all aspects. Among other things, Fingrid is intro- The only thing I haven’t experience of is ducing a practice where landowners maintenance,” she says. are also paid harvesting costs in con- The focal areas of her career influ- junction with the clearing of trees re- ence the way in which Ritva Laine re- quired by a transmission line. gards her environment. There are still erroneous notions in- “When I see a transmission line, I volved in transmission line sites and nowadays pay attention to the technical the builders’ performance. According solutions applied. Before, I did not no- to Ritva Laine, the most common faulty tice the lines at all,” she states. notions are that the ground surface is She also thinks that the towers and not restored after the work and that lines adapt mostly well to the Finnish scenery.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 14 INBRIEF

security of the entire grid. It will add to the north-to-south transmission ca- pacity, hence responding to the future electricity transmission requirements. The shift-over to a higher voltage level will also reduce losses resulting from electricity transmission. The transmission line will run in the municipalities of Kokkola (also former Kälviä and Lohtaja), Kannus, Himanka, Kalajoki, Alavieska, Merijärvi, Pyhä- joki, Raahe, Vihanti, Siikajoki, Siikalat- va, Liminka, Tyrnävä and Muhos. From Kokkola to Siikajoki (approx. 130 kilometres), the planned line will be located primarily in the place of the existing 110/220 kV transmission lines or parallel with them. According to pre- liminary plans, the present right-of- way will become 0 to 10 metres wider than now, depending on the cross-sec- New transmission line from Kokkola to Muhos tion in question. Between Siikajoki and Muhos, the Fingrid is planning a 400 kilovolt transmission line from Ventusneva in Kokkola to the transmission line will be located in a Pyhänselkä substation in Muhos in Ostrobothnia. The environmental impact assess- new right-of-way over a distance of ment (EIA) of the project will be launched in the summer of 2009. some 70 kilometres. Two alternative southern routes are also being exam- he planned transmission line is especially because of additional wind ined between Siikajoki and Tyrnävä, part of the long-term develop- power production and large power differing from the main alternative over Tment plan for the nation-wide plant units planned in the region. The a distance of about 40 to 50 kilometres. transmission grid in Finland. In the next planned transmission line from Ven- The alternative line routes will also be 10 to 20 years, the ageing 220 kilovolt tusneva to Pyhänselkä is part of the placed in a new right-of-way. Prelimi- grid in Ostrobothnia in Western Finland crucial basic solutions for the develop- nary plans suggest that the width of the will be replaced by a new 400 kilovolt ment of the grid. These solutions make new right-of-way required between Sii­ grid, which will conform to the future preparations for connecting new wind kajoki and Muhos is approx. 56 metres. transmission requirements. Some of power capacity (2,000 MW) and the The EIA procedure is expected to be the present transmission lines will be sixth nuclear power unit to the grid in ready in the late winter of 2010. The utilised later in the 110 kilovolt grid. accordance with the climate and ener- new transmission line will be commis- Transmission needs in the nation- gy strategy of Finland. sioned at the end of the 2010s. At Fin- wide grid in the coastal regions of Os- The new transmission line will im- grid, the matter is taken care of by Mika trobothnia are increasing because of prove not only general electricity sup- Penttilä. growing electricity consumption and ply in Ostrobothnia but also the system New video introduces nation-wide grid Video “Sähkönsiirron selkäranka” pro- he video using drawing animation There has been a need for a short duced by Fingrid is a basic presentation Tintroduces the various parts of the presentation of Fingrid in its public providing insight of the principle of the grid and related terminology. The pres- events arranged in conjunction with transmission grid to those learning to entation is also linked to the everyday construction projects and in meetings know the energy industry. life of landowners so that it tells why with authorities. The video of a few min- the transmission lines, the most visi- utes can also be viewed on the compa- ble part of the grid, are still construct- ny’s website. ed and renovated.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 14 FINGRID 2/2009 | 15 Finnish grid 1929-2009 80 years of POWER FOR FINLAND

Crossarm being erected on the first line in the Finnish grid.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 16 The young independent Finland took a long leap forward in its development in January 1929 when electricity was switched on for the first time to the 110 kilovolt electricity transmission line running from the Imatra power plant in South-Eastern Finland to Turku in the west. This is where the nation- wide transmission grid had its origin. Grid construction created the preconditions for industrial growth and development and for consequent rise in the standard of living. Over the decades, electricity has become an indispensable driving force for society, and as the elec- tricity market is integrating, we are more and more closely linked to pan-European developments.

Text by Maria Hallila Photographs by Electricity Museum Elektra and Erkki Laine

inland was among the pioneers kilovolts as a result of increased elec- Electricity was switched on to the line in electrification on a global tricity generation volume and greater for the first time on 16 January 1929. Fscale. There are a number of rea- transmission needs. The entire project was carried out in sons why electricity became so popu- The wood-processing industry con- five years. The technical problems in- lar here. Because of our Nordic loca- structed its first major power plants in volved in the construction work were tion, cold climate, long dark winters the early 1920s, and the first 70 kilovolt challenging, because there was no ex- and extensive geographical distanc- transmission lines to south-western perience of this industry in Finland. es, we need considerably more ener- and south-eastern Finland were com- Similarly, there were no Finnish secu- gy for heating, lighting and transport pleted at around the same time. Elec- rity regulations concerning transmis- than countries situated further south tricity was transmitted from the pow- sion networks until 1930. Mainly Ger- and with more dense population. Our er plant built in the Äetsä rapids of man regulations and standards were industries are also highly energy-in- the river Kokemäenjoki to Rosenlew’s applied to the construction of the line tensive, and the high standard of living wood-processing mills in Pori on the with almost 2,000 towers. calls for extensive energy supply. west coast over a distance of 60 kilo- In 1929, the total length of the trans- At around the time when the first line metres. The route of the other line ran mission lines starting from Imatra was in the nation-wide grid was complet- over a distance 38 kilometres from the 487 kilometres. The 70 kilovolt lines ed, at the end of the 1920s, electrici- Inke­roinen power plant constructed by built by private industries totalled 157 ty had already brought great relief to Tampella at Ahvenkoski in south-east- kilometres by that time. the life of urban dwellers in particular. ern Finland, from where it branched Electric lighting had been introduced further to Kyminlinna. for the first time in the weaving room High-voltage networks of dozens of of Finlayson’s textile mill in Tampere in kilometres were also completed in the 1882. Helsinki had started experiments surroundings of many towns. with electricity as the energy source of street lighting in 1910. By 1920, almost State starts to build lines all towns and industrial centres had a local electric utility. The building of the Imatra hydropow- Electrification progressed more er plant (1921-1929) marked the be- slowly in the countryside, but by 1929 ginning of the nation-wide electrici- just over half of the 531 rural munic- ty transmission grid in Finland. It was ipalities in Finland had at least one a major undertaking for the young re- electric utility each. When the Second public to extend a transmission line World War began, the electrification across the country all the way to Turku rate in the countryside was more than to transmit the electricity generated by 40 per cent. the Imatrankoski rapids to the foremost built-up areas and industrial facilities. Industries as trailblazers At best, over 700 men were working on the line sites, and the costs rose to the Industries served as the driving force same level as the construction costs of in electrification and electricity trans- the Imatra power plant. The costs of mission in Finland. The first long-dis- the power plant and transmission net- tance transmission connections built work by May 1932 were more than 400 by private industries had a voltage of 20 million Finnish markkas (approx. 140 Installers of the first towers presenting kilo­volts, but this was soon raised to 70 million present euros). the result of their work.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 16 FINGRID 2/2009 | 17 Parallel and competitive construction

When the Imatra power plant was completed, there were some doubts that Finland would never use as much electricity as is produced by the plant. This soon turned out to be an errone- ous notion. Since the commissioning of the Imatra power plant, electricity con- sumption in Finland has grown contin- uously apart from the war years and some other exceptional years. In 1930, electricity consumption in Finland exceeded the milestone of one terawatt hour*. Between the First and Second World Wars, electricity gener- ation per capita in Finland surpassed that in many industrial countries, and was approaching consumption in coun- The 400 kilovolt transmis- tries with abundant hydropower pro- sion voltage was introduced duction: Norway, Sweden and Switzer- in 1960. land. Industries used a majority of the electricity generated, as much as 90 per cent. The transmission grid expanded as both private industries and Imatran Voima Oy, established in 1932, con- structed their own 110 kilovolt lines in different parts of Finland. The compet- itive situation between these two elec- tricity producers and transmitters was fairly even at the end of the 1930s: in 1938, Imatran Voima sold about 770 gi- gawatt hours* of electricity, and indus- trial transmission systems transmitted some 720 gigawatt hours. The two net- works also had about the same size.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 18 As a result of the Second World War, In the 1960s, electricity purchas- kilovolt transmission lines from the hy- Finland had to cede almost one third of es from Sweden reached their peak in dropower plants in Northern Finland to the constructed hydropower plant ca- 1964, when 666 gigawatt hours were towns and industrial centres in South- pacity and capacity under construction imported. An agreement was signed ern Finland. The 400 kilovolt grid was as well as the transmission network between the countries in 1967 to con- meshed, and it was enlarged especially built in the Karelian Isthmus to the So- struct a 400 kilovolt cross-border line. in conjunction with the construction of viet Union. At the end of the war in 1945, Purchases of electricity from Sve- new coal and nuclear power plants in there were 1,680 kilometres of 110 kilo­ togorsk in the Soviet Union began in Southern Finland in the 1970s. volt transmission lines in Finland. 1961, but it was not until 1975 that an Imatran Voima’s extensive project of agreement on annual electricity deliv- engineering and building the so-called In the forefront of new technology eries was signed. This required a new atomic ring required the work input of 400 kilovolt transmission link, with the 100 engineers, and 1,500 man-years in One of the most important tasks in Yllikkälä substation completed near the construction phase. The atomic ring post-war reconstruction was to secure Lappeenranta for the link in 1979. (Alajärvi–Seinäjoki–Olkiluoto–Inkoo– electricity supply in Finland. This is why The transmission connections from Hyvinkää–Loviisa–Yllikkälä–Huutokos­ the construction of new hydropower the western and eastern neighbour- ki–Alajärvi) connects the largest power plants was launched in the large riv- ing countries together with the estab- plants with the consumption centres in ers in Northern Finland – Oulujoki and lishment of Nordel, organisation of the Southern and Central Finland. Kemijoki – and transmission lines were Nordic electricity producers, in 1963 also built to the consumption areas in improved the security of electricity Era of free electricity market Southern and Central Finland. In 1946, supply in Finland. there were eight large ongoing power The Fenno-Skan high-voltage di- Finland was one of the first countries plant projects in Finland. rect current link connecting the Finn- in Europe in the 1990s to liberalise its New solutions were needed so as to ish and Swedish grids was taken into electricity market for free competi- transmit electricity to the south. The use in 1989. The nominal voltage of this tion. In conjunction with this reform, transmission voltage of 220 kilovolts 200-kilometre submarine cable run- electricity production and transmis- was introduced in line with the har- ning in the Gulf of Bothnia is 400 kilo- sion were unbundled from each other. nessing of the river Oulujoki in the early volts and present transmission capaci- By virtue of the Electricity Market Act 1950s, and the level of 400 kilovolts was ty 572 megawatts. which became effective in 1995, indus- taken into use ten years later to trans- tries were able to subject their electric- mit the power of the river Kemijoki. Electricity from north to south ity procurement to competitive bidding, Imatran Voima’s line ran from Py- and all electricity consumers have had häkoski on the river Oulujoki south- By the end of the 1960s, most of Finland this opportunity since 1997. ward via Central Finland. The line and by the early 1980s the whole of Fin- As part of the electricity market re- owned by industries, in turn, extended land had been electrified. Household form, the government of Finland, Imat­ from the Isohaara power plant built by appliances such as freezers, dishwash- ran Voima Oy and Pohjolan Voima Oy Pohjolan Voima Oy in the river Kemijoki ers and colour televisions became com- made an agreement to establish a along the coast to Kyminlinna in south- mon in Finnish homes in the 1970s. separate transmission system oper- eastern Finland. Industrial production almost dou- ator (TSO). In 1997, the biggest busi- In about 20 years (1945–1965), the total bled in Finland in the 1960s, which also ness transaction made in Finland by power of Finnish hydropower plants and led to a rapid growth in electricity con- that date gave Suomen Kantaverkko the length of transmission lines (110–400 sumption. The need for electricity was Oyj (from 1999 Fingrid Oyj) the entire kV) more than quadrupled. Finland was a also boosted by the rapid electrification transmission grid business of Imatran pioneer in introducing new high-voltage of households and agriculture as well Voima Oy and Pohjolan Voima Oy. The technology in those days, too. as by the increasing popularity of elec- core of this business was composed of tric heating in single-family houses. the transmission grids with a total line Borders open for electricity An idea to electrify the railways was length of 14,000 kilometres. transmission first suggested in the early 20th cen- Fingrid is now responsible for the tury, and the idea was put into prac- nation-wide grid and entire power sys- One of the milestones in electricity tice when Sähköradat Oy owned by Oy tem in Finland. The company sells grid transmission in the 1950s and 1960s Imatran Voima and Oy Nokia Ab was services to all electricity market par- was the launching of co-operation with established in 1964. The first electric ties and contributes to the functioning Sweden and the Soviet Union. Electric- train started service between Helsinki of the market. ity transmissions between Finland and and Kirkkonummi in 1969. The set-up of two different parties Sweden could begin after a 220 kilovolt What was characteristic of the elec- had prevailed in the construction of the line was built from Petäjäskoski in Fin- tricity transmission grid in Finland in Finnish grid almost throughout the 20th land to Kalix in Sweden. the 1960s were the long 220 and 400 century: private industries and their

FINGRID 2/2009 | 18 FINGRID 2/2009 | 19

* 1 terawatt hour (TWh) = 1,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) = 1,000,000 megawatt hours (MWh) = 1,000,000,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) partners on one hand and the govern- ed a good foundation for the electricity wide grid has remained at an excellent ment-owned power companies on the market and its development. On PVO’s level for a length of time, and Fingrid other hand carried out their projects side, grid co-operation was developed has repeatedly been among the best side by side and in competition with by Ilmari Leskinen. performers in international bench- each other. A transmission grid was a marking studies concerning the opera- major competitive edge for both. Towards a European electricity market tional quality and costs of transmission “The set-up was quite controversial system operators. at times. However, the construction of Electricity consumption in Finland went The development of the Finnish grid overlapping grids was considered to over 80 terawatt hours in 2001. The Nor- is currently guided to an increasing ex- be uneconomical, and Finns have been dic electricity market came about, and tend by pan-European and even global able to develop the system as a whole Fingrid made considerable investments trends and aspirations. Fingrid, like all through responsible co-operation,” is in increasing the transmission options European TSOs, is facing major chal- how Timo Toivonen, who headed the on the cross-border connections. lenges by the fighting of climate change Finnish transmission system operator The commissioning of the third 400 while at the same time the goal is to for 15 years, characterises the history kilovolt connection between Finland maintain a reasonable price of electric- of the Finnish grid. and Russia was celebrated at the Vyborg ity and its secured supply. According to him, accomplishing a converter station in February 2003. In order to intensify the functioning of uniform transmission grid has creat- The system security of the nation- the electricity market and so as to re- Comments on the Finnish grid

“For industries, the most crucial turn- “What comes to my mind first of the ing point in the development of the Finn- Finnish grid is its reliability. We have ish grid was the establishment of Fingrid. had very few power cuts in the na- It revolutionised everything, and there tion-wide grid. This must be among was no way of forecasting the scope of the the best results globally, maybe change at that time. Fingrid has become a even the best. The grid also works true win-win story. Everything now works very economically. The grid is re- as it should, and we are satisfied with the liable despite the fact that being a market that has been created through Fin- sparsely populated country, Finland grid. The grid is now used for promoting competition, and this has long lines and severe winter is the great change that came about in line with Fingrid.” conditions. Engineering skills are one explanation to this.” Magnus Buchert, M.Sc. (Eng.), served in senior duties in Tapani Jokinen, Professor emeritus, Electrical Engi- industrial energy use and production from 1970 to 2003 neering, Helsinki University of Technology

“The system security of the grid is becom- “Development work was given much ing an increasingly important consideration. emphasis after the Second World People are less and less tolerant of pow- War: there were electricity labora- er cuts, and if one was to occur in the na- tories, and tower tests and vibra- tion-wide grid, it would concern a large area. tion measurements were carried There would certainly be much criticism as out. There has also been significant a result of something like that. On the other co-operation with Finnish indus- hand, people are against almost all types of tries such as Strömberg, Suomen construction: ‘There’s no need for new pow- Kaapelitehdas and Vuoksenniska Oy. er lines, we get electricity from the socket anyway!’ Personally, I consider it very important that responsibil- It must be difficult for a transmission system operator to ity for the engineering, construction and maintenance of live with this discrepancy. People should understand that if transmission lines belonged to a single organisation. In this we wish to have a reliable supply of electricity, the towers way, total responsibility was in the same hands, and feed- must be there. The discussion concerning these things is not back was obtained from maintenance both to engineering always intellectually honest.” and construction. Above all, we built the grid for ourselves. Liisa Haarla, Professor, Power Systems and High Voltage I am not saying this to criticise the present approach Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology where the client orders the work from separate suppliers through competitive bidding. It’s just that in the earlier stag- es of the Finnish grid this procedure would have been com- pletely wrong. In the present situation, Fingrid has great re-

FINGRID 2/2009 | 20 tain the high level of system security, grid development will mean the de- This article is based on the following Fingrid has launched its most exten- velopment of the grid in the area of the publications describing the history of sive capital expenditure programme to Baltic Sea rather than the Nordic grid,” the Finnish transmission grid: date. The objective is to use grid rein- says Fingrid’s President and CEO Juk- Vaiheikas verkko, 1999 forcement projects to make prepara- ka Ruusunen. Sähkön valtavirta (multimedia CD), 2004 tions for a considerable increase in the According to him, the Nordic coun- Yhteisillä linjoilla, 2004 share of renewable energy in electrici- tries are too small an area when region- The other sources comprise Fingrid ty production, as defined in the energy al grid plans conforming to the EU’s ob- Magazine issues from 1998 to 2009 strategy of the European Union. jectives are being drawn up and when as well as Imatran Voima Oy’s Of Fingrid’s present capital invest- developing the international electrici- jubilee book “Puoli vuosisataa ment projects, the biggest is Fenno- ty market. Imatran Voimaa”, 1982. Skan 2, the submarine cable connection ENTSO-E, organisation of the Euro- between Finland and Sweden due to be pean TSOs launched in April 2009, co- ready in 2011. The company is also pre- ordinates and promotes grid develop- pared to build Estlink 2, a second high- ment in all 34 signatory countries in the voltage direct current link between Fin- spirit of the EU’s energy strategy on the land and Estonia, in the near future. way towards a single European elec- “From the Finnish viewpoint, future tricity market.

sponsibility for it having sufficient expertise and knowledge the lines from swaying too much by wind. These dampers of the suppliers.” are also referred to in Cigré’s reports. Many still remember Jaakko J. Laine, M.Sc. (Eng.), served in expert and man- Doctor of Technology hc Antti J. Pesonen, who was a top agement duties in transmission line engineering and con- expert in the thunder protection of lines. The Finnish trans- struction at IVO from 1961 to 1998 mission grid relies on solid engineering expertise.” Kalervo Nurmimäki, Last President of Imatran Voima Oy “In view of the system security of the nation-wide grid, the basic structure “When Fingrid’s operations were of the grid is one of the foremost is- launched, it was set certain fi- sues. It must be as good and unam- nancial objectives: the transmis- biguous as possible. We have suita- sion prices had to come down by 15 bly few transmission voltages: 110, per cent. This was achieved fair- 220 and 400 kilovolts, with the share ly quickly. There was a bit of good of 220 kilovolts decreasing further. luck involved, with the price of Selectivity of relay protection is money being quite low, but what also important. This means that in the event of a fault, only was decisive was the operating the damaged equipment is separated from the grid. And model whereby everything possible was obtained from the of course it is also essential to know the entire grid and its market through competitive bidding. Construction projects transmission capacity. Our transmission distances are long, and maintenance as well as loss energy purchases were and we need to be able to set such limits on the transmis- obtained through skilful competitive tendering. The trans- sions that they are not exceeded so that the transmission ca- mission system operator had the strength to understand pacity can be kept good.” these things: it retained a sufficiently solid personnel so Lauri Mäkelä, M.Sc. (Eng.), served in key duties in grid en- that it could know what it wants. gineering and joint operation at IVO from 1958 to 1997 The company personnel were – and certainly still are – highly motivated. The organisation was put together from a “Competition in electricity transmis- clean slate. There was no burden that easily accumulates sion and production has kept Finns in old organisations. Fairly soon there was a feeling that on their toes. With an engineering people like to work in Fingrid, and we were able to attract background, I tend to say that we good people in this way.” Finns had very competent engineers Timo Toivonen, M.Sc. (Eng.), Fingrid’s President from to build the nation-wide grid. One 1997 to 2006 example of this is the portal support type designed in Finland, now also used elsewhere in the world. The quotations are based on interviews made We have also engineered vibration dampers which prevent in May and June 2009.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 20 FINGRID 2/2009 | 21 Design and colour in the landscape – History of the Finnish landscape tower

Text by Maarit Kauniskangas Photographs by Juhani Eskelinen and Sami Kuitunen

Landscape towers stand out from other transmission line structures due to their special shapes and colours. They are often also landmarks, and can even be regarded as environmental art in some cases. The landscape towers show that technical solutions can also pay attention to aesthetical considerations.

inland has more landscape One of the participants was archi- mesniemi. However, the transmission towers designed specifically tect Simo Järvinen, who had said that line engineers were less enthusiastic for a certain location than any the towers look ugly. Erkki Partanen, – they feared that the towers would be Fother country in the world. Environmental Manager of IVS, sug- considerably expensive and that people Moreover, Finland was the first country gested that whenever an overhead line would soon demand that such towers in the world to design and build them. structure cannot be ”hidden”, a struc- be built everywhere. ture suited to the particular scenery How it all started could be built. Simo Järvinen agreed First landscape towers and recommended that the matter be The impetus for special-design electric- developed further with Professor Antti Studio Nurmesniemi Ky commenced ity transmission line towers was provided Nurmesniemi, interior designer and the design of landscape towers in 1993. by a seminar in the early 1990s organ- “grand old man” in Finnish design. At that time, the studio employed Ant- ised by the then transmission system Since IVS’s President Timo Toivo- ti Nurmesniemi and two other inte- operator IVO Voimansiirto Oy (IVS). The nen and the Board of Directors of the rior designers: Jorma Valkama and seminar discussed the appearance of company warmed up to the idea right Björn Selenius. At first, the designers transmission line towers. away, Partanen contacted Antti Nur-

FINGRID 2/2009 | 22 learned about the technical require- “It takes time to hone the ments of transmission line towers. ideas – this work is no The first tower suggestions by Studio Nurmesniemi were reviewed by IVS, instant design,” says Jorma with an internal vote arranged on them Valkama. there. This was won by a great majori- ty by a tower repeating the shape of a bird’s beak in the crossarm structure. However, this tower type never sus- pended IVS’s own transmission lines but was introduced by Turku Energia at Hirvensalo in Turku. On the other hand, the shape of the bird beak is used in Fingrid’s emblem introduced in 1997. IVS’s first landscape tower was com- pleted in Laukaa in Central Finland parts of Finland. Antti Nurmesniemi’s in 1995 soon after “Keltanokat” (Yel- last assignment was a series of towers low beaks) at Hirvensalo in Turku. The called “Antin askeleet” (Antti’s steps) at same year, “Sinikurjet” (Blue cranes) Meilahti in Helsinki. were erected at a multi-level junc- Jorma Valkama, who has been tion at the crossing of Turuntie Road involved in the design of the landscape and Ring Road III in Espoo. The towers towers from the very first one, has were named a work of environmental designed the four most recent erected This year, Fingrid celebrates the 80th art even before they were erected. They towers. Where does a designer get the anniversary of the Finnish electricity were awarded the Finnish Steel Struc- ideas for landscape tower design? transmission grid by publishing the ture Award in 1995 and in the annual “The ideas certainly do not come about book “Form and colour in the land- Good Design competition by the Chica- by just drawing, but by thinking. I need scape – History of the Finnish land- go Athenaeum in 1999. a lot of photographs from the location scape tower”. The book is distribut- of the tower. I visit the site often and let ed in Fingrid’s events. The book con- From idea to implementation the ideas mature in the subconscious. It taining many photographs compiles takes time to hone the ideas – this work not only the history of landscape tow- Since the “Yellow beaks” and “Blue is no instant design.” ers but also information on the work cranes”, many different landscape According to Valkama, the design processes and technical details of towers have been installed in various process has changed in line with devel- the towers.

Transmission lines through the eyes of local people

Text by Katriina Soini, Eija Pouta, Maija Salmiovirta, Tapani Kivinen, Marja Uusitalo, MTT/Taloustutkimus

eauty is in the eye of the be- pects are present, with various empha- among the residents of the villages of holder, they say. This is true, ses in the residents’ views. Lepsämä, Nummenpää and Perttula in Bbecause notions of a good land- The attitudes of local people to trans- Nurmijärvi. scape reflect people’s values and atti- mission lines are usually studied when According to the results, local peo- tudes, age, profession, interests, but a new right-of-way is being planned ple usually regard both existing and also knowledge of various scenic ele- or when an existing line is repaired. potential future transmission lines ments and their impacts on the envi- Instead, it is rarer on an internation- and rights-of-ways as a scenic draw- ronment. Transmission line landscapes al scale to study how the local peo- back because of appearance, sound in- can be viewed from a number of as- ple experience transmission lines and conveniences and potential health im- pects: visual, ecological, economic, so- rights-of-ways as part of the landscape pacts. However, 1 out 10 respondents cial and cultural. When local residents in their residential environment. Re- had a positive attitude towards trans- assess the significance of a transmis- searchers of MTT Agrifood Research mission lines. They thought that elec- sion line landscape, these various as- Finland have studied this in a survey tricity is needed, which is why pow-

FINGRID 2/2009 | 22 FINGRID 2/2009 | 23 Design and colour in the landscape (continues from previous pages)

opments in information technology. At Team work and innovations It is also easy to service the surface of Studio Nurmesniemi, the plans were the tower one steel cassette at a time. drawn by hand, and scale models were However, the designers of landscape built of them. The suitability of a tower towers do not plan the towers on their Landscape towers attract interest to its surrounding landscape was tested own, but tower design is team work. by photographing the scale model using Even the first ideas are reviewed care- The initiative for the design of new suitable optics. fully by a group consisting of experts in landscape towers has often come from “Nowadays the entire design of a various fields. The team comprises the Fingrid’s stakeholders. Local decision- landscape tower takes place by means designer, representative of the client, makers have also been involved in the of computer. The sketch can be inserted structural engineer, representative design process. in its correct environment in an image of the engineering works building the The publicity gained by the landscape made by computer, and the sketch tower tower, and lighting designer. towers has been invariably positive. can be given various colours and studied “Landscape towers involve a mul- Moreover, the towers have also been from different angles in different times titude of knowledge, which no single noted in cultural news – much thanks of the day and year.” person can master,” Jorma Valkama to Antti Nurmesniemi. In recent years, it has also been pos- points out. Interest towards landscape towers sible to change and control the lighting The landscape towers have also given has not faded; on the contrary. Fingrid of landscape towers by means of com- an opportunity to experiment with new receives frequent inquiries about land- puter. According to Jorma Valkama, it technical solutions. As an example, the scape towers. Several foreign experts is presently standard procedure that mosaic-patterned landscape tower in the electricity transmission business a landscape tower is illuminated. This erected at Nummela in Vihti is clad with have also visited Finland specifically to affects the choice of surface materials steel cassettes specifically designed for see the Finnish landscape towers. and colours during the design stage. the tower, giving a very smooth surface.

Transmission lines through the eyes of local people (continues from previous pages)

Transmission lines traversing a countryside Photograph by Tapani Kivinen Tapani by Photograph scenery in Nurmijärvi.

er lines are necessary. They also as- able habitat for several increasing- research results. The more informa- sessed transmission lines and rights- ly rare and even endangered species. tion a respondent possessed, the more of-ways from the viewpoint of recrea- From an ecological viewpoint, electric- positive the attitude. tional uses. ity transmission lines constitute an in- The survey also examined landown- The survey also revealed that espe- teresting and even conflicting environ- ers’ views of transmission lines. Forest cially those who lived close to the lines ment, because they have both positive owners had a more negative attitude had a positive notion of them. This can and negative impacts in terms of the than farmers. It would be worth while reflect becoming accustomed to trans- natural environment. The survey indi- to communicate and market the mul- mission lines, but also an ambition to cated that people are not yet very well tiple uses of transmission line areas to accept all scenic elements in one’s own aware of the positive impacts of trans- forest owners. immediate environment. New resi- mission lines, since most people inter- The results of the survey will be ad- dents in particular tend to have a posi- ested in environmental issues had a vanced in landscape workshops in the tive attitude towards transmission lines very critical attitude towards the lines. same research area, also involving the and to accept them. All in all, it appears that people’s atti- transmission line topic. Many research studies have shown tudes towards transmission lines are that transmission lines offer a favour- guided by beliefs rather than relevant

FINGRID 2/2009 | 24 According to Leena Korpinen, work and oth- er activities under a transmission line are lim- Health impacts studied continuously ited by factors primarily related to electrical Electric and magnetic fields of safety, not so much ones pertaining to elec- tric and magnetic fields. The forbidden issues transmisson lines pose no threat to people include flying a kite, spraying of water on the conductors (for example irrigation), and walk- Is it safe to buy a plot close to an electricity transmission line? Should ing under a line with a long, conducting fish- I build a house next to a power line? Leena Korpinen, Professor of ing rod (for example made of carbon fibre) on Environmental Health at the Tampere University of Technology, is the shoulder. It is also forbidden to operate the crane of a truck under a line. Moreover, some accustomed to answering questions like these. However, she points out medical devices inserted in the body may op- that you must ultimately make the decision yourself. erate erroneously under a transmission line. Text by Suvi Artti Photograph by Teemu Launis

he impacts of the electric and and the potential health impacts of In terms of the magnetic fields, the magnetic fields of electrici- these fields have been studied exten- values measured at transmission line Tty transmission lines preoccu- sively. Based on the research findings, areas are clearly below the recom- py people’s minds especially when a the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs mended values: the highest meas- transmission line is being planned in and Health has issued a decree which ured values under a 400 kilovolt line the neighbourhood or when people are confirms the recommended maximum at a height of 1 metre from the ground moving close to one. This concern is values for low-frequency electric and are 12 µT, in other words clearly below understandable but undue: the recom- magnetic fields. the upper limit of 100 µT of the recom- mended values set on the exposure of According to the decree, the recom- mended value. population on the basis of research re- mended value for the exposure of pop- Similarly, the recommended values sults are not exceeded in the vicinity of ulation to the electric field of a trans- for the electric field are not exceeded transmission lines. mission line (50 Hz) is 5 kilovolts per on 110 and 220 kilovolt overhead lines, metre (kV/m) and to the magnetic field but according to measurements by the No risk of electric and magnetic 100 microteslas (µT), when the expo- Tampere University of Technology, the fields in the transmission line area sure lasts for a considerable period of value of 5 kV/m is exceeded on 30 per time. If the exposure does not last for a cent of the measured 400 kilovolt line The power system causes electric and considerable period of time, the values sections. Considering that people do magnetic fields in its surroundings, are 15 kV/m and 500 µT respectively. not spend significant periods of time

FINGRID 2/2009 | 24 FINGRID 2/2009 | 25 ues, and also mentions IARC’s leuke- mia view “so that people would not feel that some information is concealed”. “Secondly, I encourage people to re- flect on their own worrying: are they usually troubled by various things, and what would it be like to live somewhere if you had to worry constantly. It is good to contemplate these things in advance, beneath the lines, the recommend- IARC earlier, and SCENIHR, the inde- because you may even develop physi- ed values for the electric and magnet- pendent scientific committee of the cal symptoms if you are concerned over ic fields are not exceeded in the trans- Commission of the EU, did so this year. something on a continuous basis.” mission line area or outside it. In other words, it appears that there Thirdly, according to Leena Korpi­ would be no changes to the recom- nen, you should also remember that Cancer risk in the same range mendations.” close-by transmission lines may in- as that of coffee fluence the price of a real estate if the Living close to matter becomes topical at some point Some research studies have suggest- a line raises questions in the future. ed that there could be impacts at clear- ly lower exposure levels than what the Leena Korpinen, doctor in both medi- Health concerns should be values recommended in the decree of cine and technology, has studied elec- considered in zoning the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health tric and magnetic fields for 20 years. are. IARC (International Agency for Re- Her job description also includes an- Leena Korpinen says that there are no search on Cancer) working under the swering related questions. She says official building regulations relating to World Health Organization WHO has that she receives a telephone call on electric and magnetic fields in Finland, stated that long-term housing in a this topic on average about every sec- but the regulations are based on elec- magnetic field of over 0.4 µT may cause ond week. trical safety – there must be a certain leukemia in children. IARC has catego- “Most often, people have questions distance to substations and transmis- rised low-frequency magnetic fields in about the buying of a house or plot: the sion lines because of the risk of electric Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to hu- caller is considering buying one near a shock. However, the guideline* drawn mans. transmission line and wants to know up as support of the decree of the Min- However, according to Fingrid’s Chief what risks are involved in this.” istry of Social Affairs and Health rec- Specialist, Professor Jarmo Elovaara, She says that the telephone calls ommends that health concerns should the increase in the risk has not been have left her with an impression of be taken into account both when zoning indicated in a scientifically valid man- Finns as ”quite level-headed people”. areas close to transmission lines and ner. “Even after 30 years of research, “People do not usually call me in dis- when planning new lines. The group of we do not know a single mechanism tress, but they have usually thought experts formulated this as follows: that could explain the potential abili- about the matter and found out things “The decree does not require that a ty of magnetic fields to cause cancer,” on their own before they contact me. protective area outside the transmis- Elovaara says. They may want to have a confirma- sion line area be specified in the zoning Leena Korpinen points out that oth- tion to their own notion and ask what I process. However, in the zoning of res- er substances in Group 2B include cof- would do in a similar situation; would I idential areas it would be good to con- fee and exhaust gas. This group means build the house or buy the plot.” sider electric and magnetic fields be- that it has not been possible to indicate “The callers may be disappointed at cause of the health impact concerns conclusively the causal relationship first when I cannot specify a certain people may have. Moreover, it is desir- between the substance studied and safe distance in metres for buildings able that no extra activities are zoned in cancer. The group does not mean that from a transmission line,” Leena Kor­ transmission line areas. --- there would be a significant growth in pinen says. “However, after we talk for There are no official instructions the occurrence of cancer as a result of a while, people usually understand that for the placing of transmission lines the substance. they ultimately have to make the deci- in Finland, but the goal in the plan- “The controversial risk of leukemia sion themselves.” ning of lines is usually that they are not was known in 2002 when the decree of Leena Korpinen says that her “stand- built close to housing, day care centres, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health ard answer” consists of three parts. playgrounds or schools, for example. was drawn up,” Korpinen­ states. “In First of all, she gives the facts concern- One reason for this is that notions dis- 2007, WHO adopted the same view as ing the recommended maximum val- cussed in public, concerning the poten-

*Korpinen, Leena 2003. “Yleisön altistuminen pientaajuisille sähkö- ja magneettikentille Suomessa.” Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön oppaita 2003:12 FINGRID 2/2009 | 26 THE T W E O R

N M K S tial health impacts of overhead lines, may cause anxiety in people.” Sami Kuitunen, who is responsible for zoning matters at Fingrid, says that This column presents and defines terminology Fingrid cannot control building outside in the electricity transmission business. the transmission line area. Even though the adverse impacts of the electric and Quantities used in conjunction with electromagnetic fields magnetic fields of transmission lines n electrically charged conductor Even if there were no man-made have not been proven scientifically, Acreates an electric field around it. electromagnetic fields, the surface of Fingrid urges, for example in conjunc- It can also be said that the conductor is the Earth is influenced constantly by tion with its statements to zoning plans, energised in this case. If there is a volt- an electric field caused by various nat- that people’s concerns related to elec- age difference between the ends of the ural phenomena. In areas of beauti- tric and magnetic fields should be tak- conductor, the electric charges begin ful weather, its intensity is approx. 0.1 en into account. to move towards the ends of the con- kV/m and under a thunder cloud up to a ductor. This movement is referred to few kilovolts per metre. Corresponding- New research on 110 kilovolt as current, and it creates a magnetic ly, at the latitudes of Finland, the Earth’s lines and substations field around the conductor. At low fre- own magnetism causes a magnetic flux quencies, for example at the frequen- density in the range of 40 µT close to the cies applied to electricity transmission ground. However, the rate of change of The most recent research project con- and distribution, the electric and mag- these fields is so small that they can be cerning the electric and magnetic fields netic fields are in practice independ- regarded similar to the fields created by of transmission lines, funded by the ent of each other. This is necessarily direct current. Experience has shown Ministry of Employment and the Econ- not the case for instance with radio fre- that they pose no danger to people, an- omy, will come to an end in September quencies. imals or other organisms. All electric 2009. According to Leena Korpinen, Describing physical phenomena calls and magnetic fields having a considera- this project primarily focusing on 110 for the use of certain quantities and ble duration and a frequency other than kilovolt lines and substations does not their units of measurement, such as zero are man-made fields. time/second, distance/metre, weight/ The quantities describing aim at new research findings related to the inten- gramme etc. Life is easier if the same sity of an electric field strength and of the health impacts of the fields, but it units of measurement are used eve- a magnetic flux density together with was launched so as to increase general rywhere. There is an almost universal the related dimensions are very vague awareness of exposure to electric and convention on this. In 1960, the General to laymen, because in normal condi- magnetic fields. Conference on Weights and Measures tions people do not notice an electric or “The earlier research studies have (CGPM) reached an agreement on the magnetic field in the environment. It is concentrated on 400 kilovolt lines and introduction of the so-called SI system difficult to have a concrete point of ref- substations, while there is no meas- (SI = Système International d’Unités). erence to these quantities. urement data on 110 kilovolt lines,” In the SI system, the magnitude of the I will illustrate the matter with an ex- she says. electric field strength is expressed by a ample calculation. Let us assume that quantity where the dimension is volts there is an electricity conductor with a As could be expected, the electric and per metre (V/m). Correspondingly, the radius of 1 mm suspended at a height magnetic fields under 110 kilovolt lines intensity of the magnetic field strength of 1 metre above even ground, and a were clearly below the recommend- is expressed by a quantity where the di- voltage of 7.6 V is led to the conduc- ed values: the highest measured elec- mension is amperes per metre (A/m), tor. In this case the intensity of the elec- tric field value was 2.3 kV/m and the and the intensity of the magnetic flux tric field strength on the surface of the next highest 1.7 kV/m. The highest val- density is expressed by tesla (T or Vs/ conductor is 1 kV/m. Correspondingly, ue was measured at a location where a m2). Physically, one tesla is defined as if there is a current of 6.3 A in a single 400 kilovolt line is situated parallel with the field intensity generating one new- conductor in the air, the intensity of the a 110 kilovolt line. ton of force per ampere of current per magnetic field at a distance of 1 me- metre of conductor. In practice, the tre from the conductor is 1 A/m. In this There is also an ongoing project electric fields of man-made systems case, the magnetic flux density at this which studies comprehensively the ex- are so much greater than the basic unit point is 1.26 µT. If you wanted to reach a posure related to working at 110 kilo- that it is justified to use the quantity of flux density of 100 µT at a distance of 1 volt substations. Earlier studies of the 1,000 V/m, i.e. 1 kilovolt per metre (= 1 metre from the conductor, the current exposure of workers have also con- kV/m). On the other hand, the magnet- should be 500 A, in other words quite cerned primarily 400 kilovolt lines and ic flux densities are most often so low in high, because 500 A corresponds to a substations. relation to the basic unit that it is prac- power of 110 kW in a 220 V single-wire tical to express their magnitude by a system! fraction of the basic unit. An ordinary quantity is 1 microtesla (1 µT), which is one millionth of 1 T. Text by Jarmo Elovaara *Korpinen, Leena 2003. “Yleisön altistuminen pientaajuisille sähkö- ja magneettikentille Suomessa.” Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön oppaita 2003:12 FINGRID 2/2009 | 26 FINGRID 2/2009 | 27 Birds seldom collide with transmission lines

In this decade, Fingrid has commissioned several research studies of the risk of collision between birds and transmission lines. Based on the research findings, transmission lines in the nation-wide grid seldom pose a significant threat to birds, let alone to entire populations and their favourable conservation status.

Text and photographs by Pertti Koskimies

otential disadvantages caused in Southern Finland in 2001 to 2002 ing routes for 67 hours, with 994 ob- by transmission lines at places and at Ritassaarensuo beside the Ri- servations of 3,014 individual birds. Pwhere birds tend to gather have dasjärvi lake in Hyvinkää in South- When these materials are combined, been studied recently at Fingrid’s ini- ern Finland in 2008. This year, the the colliding birds only accounted for tiative. The risk of birds to collide with collision risk is studied at Isoneva in 0.004 per cent of all individuals which a transmission line or have an elec- Pomarkku, where nesting birds and flew near the transmission lines (1 tric shock from one has earlier been birds resting there during the migra- out of 22,248). studied in several countries such as tion period will also be counted. Since nocturnal migrators fly at an the United States and Spain, where The methods and results of the re- altitude of at least hundreds of me- transmission line towers offer nest- search studies conducted in these tres and since, according to radar ob- ing places and lookout spots for birds nature protection areas are compara- servations, they ascend to and de- of prey and other large birds favour- ble both mutually and with research scend from the migration flight in a ing open areas. These results cannot studies obtained in other countries. rather vertical pattern, the transmis- be adapted to Finland as such, be- Based on the results to date, the risk sion lines probably do not cause a sig- cause the species, their habitats and of birds colliding with transmission nificant threat to them, either. The re- living habits differ from each other. lines has been overstated in the en- search findings suggest that the Per- In recent years, Fingrid has or- vironmental impact assessments of najanlahti transmission line does not dered from ornithologists several most transmission line projects. cause significant negative impacts on studies concerning the collision risk. the population of any species, protec- The most extensive studies have been One swan collided at Pernajanlahti tion value of bird life in the area, or fa- carried out in conjunction with line vourable conservation status. renovation projects at Pernajanlahti The observation period for the fly- ing routes of birds near the transmis- Rare near miss situations sion line at Pernajanlahti extended at Ritassaarensuo over a total of 400 hours. There were 6,523 observations (separate birds Two transmission lines run across or flocks) of 19,234 individual birds. the Ritassaarensuo bog at a distance Only one whooper swan collided with of about 100 metres from each oth- the line, and even it was not injured. er. Fingrid is planning the construc- In the summer of 1998, bird watch- tion of a new 400 kilovolt transmis- ers from Porvoo observed the fly- sion line either across the bog pro- tection area in the present 400 kilo- volt right-of-way or on the western side over the Päterinmäki hill. So as to investigate the potential

Two pairs of whooper swans live at Isoneva. They sometimes fly close to the transmission line. This heavy bird flying in a straight line and incapable of sudden turns is more susceptible to collisions than most other birds.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 28 impacts on birds, Fingrid ordered a No collisions with the lines were ob- cluded that the safest route for the study from Apus, the association of served during the monitoring period. new transmission line in view of the bird watchers in Central and North- Birds which evaded a collision at the birds is the alternative running paral- ern Uusimaa, concerning bird life in last moment were the black grouse (2 lel with the existing line on the bog. the area during the nesting and mi- individuals), woodcock (1), wood pi- gration season as well as migration geon (1) and crane (1), so the individ- No bird accumulations at Isoneva routes of birds from the spring to au- uals with an imminent risk of collision tumn of 2008. represented 0.05 per cent of all birds. The study at Isoneva commenced in The Ritassaarensuo protection area 95.8 per cent of the birds flew over the mid-April 2009. The bird density on was a nesting place for at least 28 lines, 1.9 per cent flew between the the rugged bog is small, but the spe- bird species and 85 pairs of birds. Al- current conductors and ground wire, cies comprise ones which are the- most all species represent basic spe- and 2.3 per cent flew under the lines. oretically most susceptible to colli- cies inhabiting wooded bogs. Species Only 11.7 per cent of the individuals sions. Such species living in flocks included in Annex I of the EU’s direc- flew at a distance of no more than 10 and flying fast and in a straight line tive on the conservation of wild birds, metres from the conductors (0–10 include the whooper swan, crane, requiring special conservation meas- metres under or over the lines or be- red-throated diver and many waders. ures, are the osprey, black grouse tween the lines). On the other hand, not many birds and crane. The area of influence of With the exception of black-head- fly across the transmission line, be- the alternative planned across the ed gulls, very few aquatic birds and cause there is nothing in the nearby Päterinmäki hill is a nesting place for waterfront birds staying at Ridasjärvi area that would attract flocks of birds 36 bird species and 120 pairs of birds. flew over the Ritassaarensuo bog, be- nor terrain contours which would di- The species with high conservation cause the rugged bog does not attract rect their flying routes. value by virtue of the bird directive in them. The black-headed gulls flew An overall assessment will also this area are the black grouse, grey- considerably higher than the trans- be drawn up this year of the colli- headed woodpecker, black wood- mission lines. sion risk imposed by a nearby trans- pecker and red-backed shrike. Only the risk of the black grouse to mission line in the gathering areas of Monitoring of flying birds in the area collide with the transmission lines in birds during nesting and migration in close to the transmission lines cov- this area can be assessed to be fair- all valuable bird sites in the whole of ered a period from 6 April to 23 Oc- ly high. Of the species referred to in Finland. The assessment will be used tober 2008 (137 hours), during which the directive, the risk of collision is for example in the planning and plac- period 85 different bird species were small with the whooper swan, barna- ing of power line bird markers and seen. There were 3,561 separate ob- cle goose, smew, red-throated diver, other structures preventing colli- servations, and a total of 9,984 dif- crane, ruff, grey-headed woodpeck- sions of birds. ferent individual birds were seen. er and black woodpecker, as is the risk of species categorised as threat- ened species in Finland. It was con- Pertti Koskimies is a professional or- nithologist specialised in research pertaining to bird conservation. At Fingrid’s assignment, he has car- ried out the Pernajanlahti study and planned the Ritassaarensuo study, analysed its results and written the research report. This year, he is studying bird life at Isoneva and the risk of collision imposed by the transmission line there, and he will also draw up an assessment of the threat caused by transmission lines to birds near special bird sites in Finland.

The research results will be used for example in the placing of power line bird markers.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 28 FINGRID 2/2009 | 29 The inspectors are more than happy to answer any questions that landowners may have, or they can refer the landowner to Fingrid’s adviser re- sponsible for the issue in question. Juhani Kan- tola inspecting a line in the photograph.

ransmission lines are inspect- Inspectors ed at intervals of 2 to 3 years, and Tthe crucial sections are inspect- ed more frequently. The inspectors take care of cover more than 5,000 kilometres of Fingrid’s transmission lines annually, making observations of the condition the lines of line structures and transmission line area and of events in the line area. “About 10,000 new observations are made each year. These observations constitute the foundation of transmis- sion line maintenance. They are used as the basis of plans for maintenance work carried out on the lines and for compre- hensive renovations, and even rebuild- ing of a line,” says Fingrid’s senior grid management adviser Mikko Jalonen.

Line inspectors with great responsibility

Unlike in many other countries, the line In the summer, you may see a person walking on a transmission line men inspecting Fingrid’s lines carry area, gazing around the open area and stopping every now and then to much responsibility, because mainte- shake and knock on the tower structures. Even though he also uses nance is based to a great extent on an binoculars occasionally, he is not necessarily a bird watcher but most inspector’s assessment of the need for likely a transmission line inspector surveying the lines. repairs and their urgency. In many other countries, this responsibility has been shifted to foremen, who inspect and, Text by Reija Kuronen Photograph by Juhani Eskelinen if necessary, classify the observations made by the inspectors. “At Fingrid, the

Work of inspector he transmission line inspec- and the inspections take place reliably tors work in pairs. One of the in- and in an expert fashion. An excursion to learn about Tspectors walks a certain distance The inspectors prepare themselves the work of transmission line along the line to the next change point, carefully by taking with them the nec- usually a crossing forest road. Mean- essary equipment, high-visibility cloth- inspectors begins on a beautiful while, the other inspector drives to ing, and footwear suited for the envi- morning in late spring in Hikiä. the same point, where the inspectors ronment. They also take along the most We start off near the old Hikiä change places. Depending on the ter- important tools: data logger, binocu- substation and continue across a rain, lines and other conditions, they lars, axe, and telephone with camera. field and over a hillock, following can cover about 6 to 7 kilometres of line The data logger is used for record- the line route. areas per day. ing all observations made on the lines. Today, the inspectors are Eltel Net- These are then compared to earlier works’ authorised transmission line data to see whether there have been inspectors Juhani Kantola and Mikko any changes. The conditions of the in- Suoranta. Juhani Kantola has an expe- spection day, such as temperature, are rience of 34 years in the industry, and also recorded. Mikko Suoranta has been in the busi- According to Kantola and Suoranta, ness for about 20 years. There is hence spring is the best time for making ob- plenty of knowledge and experience, servations – there is not yet vegetation to disturb monitoring or moving. This

FINGRID 2/2009 | 30 quality of inspections has been at a high moving under transmission lines, and a fresh licence in their pocket. Initially, level for years, and we have solid con- guidelines for meeting with landown- the new inspectors work with experi- fidence in the professional skills of the ers and for supplying information. enced professionals, and gradually they inspectors. The quality of inspections “In this year’s training, the licence can also do inspections on their own. is monitored using statistical methods, examination was arranged in the field. Mikko Jalonen says that the large and by making field surveys and by auditing The trainee had to carry out a field in- presumably growing number of new line the inspection work regularly,” Mikko spection on a selected part of the line men in the training poses greater chal- Jalonen says. and record all nonconformities de- lenges on the future training sessions. Transmission line inspections are in- tected, such as loose guys, rotten tow- “The candidates do not have expe- cluded in the contract for basic main- er wood, and erroneous information rience of transmission line structures tenance, subjected to competitive bid- on the identification plates of towers,” acquired for example on line construc- ding every 3 years. The newest contract Mikko Jalonen says. A total of 29 new tion sites, like the earlier inspectors. It period covers the years 2009–2011. line men aspiring the licence required is not possible or even purposeful to fill in inspection work participated in the in such an information gap during two Training gives solid basis for the work training sessions in 2009. days of training. The service providers “The participants also included line must focus on the basic training of new According to Mikko Jalonen, systematic men with years of experience of trans- line men in the future,” he points out. training of inspectors constitutes a cru- mission line work but no prior inspec- “When a line man has the basic cial component of the quality assurance tion experience or licence. There were knowledge­ of transmission lines, li- of the inspection work and condition ob- delightfully many new line men who cence training can be used for giving servations made. Before a line man can have just started in this industry.” sufficient facilities for the actual in- make field inspections, he must possess spection work,” Mikko Jalonen says. sufficient work experience and pass an Service providers have According to him, the service provid- inspection licence examination. crucial role in quality assurance ers should be more actively involved in The training arranged by Fingrid surveying the training needs and devel- aims at obtaining the licence. The train- In the coming inspection period, 17 new oping the training. ing covers general inspection work and inspectors can practice inspections with issues such as transmission line struc- tures and their numbering, condition The guidelines and requirements of inspection work have been compiled into classification, recording of observa- a transmission line inspector’s manual. A new edition of the manual was pub- tions, and equipment needed in the in- lished in early 2009. It was used as material in the three training sessions for in- spections. Other things reviewed are spection licence arranged in the spring.

is why the annual inspections begin in whether for example the circumstanc- must be reviewed no matter how diffi- April and continue until the end of Sep- es at crossings have changed from the cult the terrain is, and sometimes the tember. previous inspection. The inspectors inspectors have to go long distances Juhani Kantola says that in 30 years, also knock on and shake the towers around waterways. Auditory perception the inspections have become more and guys in order to get a feel of their is also applied: woodpeckers building a comprehensive by nature. They now condition and mounting. The conduc- nest in a tower do not go unnoticed. cover everything in the transmission tors, insulators and other overhead The morning inspection finishes at line area: vegetation, towers, earthing, parts are reviewed in detail using bin- a crossing road, in a transmission line foundations and other conditions at the oculars and the naked eye. Each part of area yellow with blooming flowers. Ju- tower site. Even though the inspec- the line must be in place and in a good hani Kantola has recorded issues such tion of for example insulators and oth- condition, and even small deviations as minor erosion in a foundation, which er equipment is an essential part of the are recorded and assessed on site. A had not been noted earlier, and a fad- work, it is currently only one section to good mobile phone camera is a good ed tower number requiring further ac- be inspected. The entire line is inspect- aid in documentation: the photograph tion. The circumstances and chang- ed in all respects during the same in- can be sent to the office for review right es have been recorded carefully in the spection. away. system. Nothing escapes the eyes of The axe serves as a tool for clear- Kantola and Suoranta characterise the inspectors. ing thickets and also for knocking on their work as independent, responsi- Reija Kuronen the tower materials. Observations con- ble, comprehensive, and one that calls cerning the other environment include for attentiveness. Each part of the line

FINGRID 2/2009 | 30 FINGRID 2/2009 | 31 Never drive machinery between the tower legs or closer than 3 metres from the tower structures!

located within these areas. These are property of the landowner. Through ex- propriation, the company has acquired a permanent right to use the trans- mission line area, and the owner of the Regular management of trees guarantees transmission line has an obligation to SECURITY OF TRANSMISSION LINES keep the trees in a condition conform- ing to relevant regulations. A transmission line and tall trees make bad neighbours. The taller the tree, This spring, Fingrid mailed letters for the greater the safety risk. However, this risk is well under the control of the first time to inform landowners of Fingrid: on transmission lines maintained by Fingrid, trees only cause 0.05 clearing work. All in all, some 10,000 disturbances per 1,000 kilometres annually. letters were sent to landowners with land under various transmission lines.

Text by Suvi Artti Photographs by Juhani Eskelinen and Rodeo The letters contained information on upcoming clearing, its location, and the here are approx. 33,000 hectares parts of the world, have not been ap- width of the transmission line area in of areas under Fingrid’s trans- plied in Finland for decades. question. Tmission lines requiring regular The clearing work is procured from “The parcels of forest in Finland are clearing. Since the clearing interval is 5 specialised enterprises on the basis small: there can be as many as 500 to 8 years, the area cleared annually is of competitive bidding, where the se- landowners on a stretch of land 100 5,500 to 6,000 hectares. lection criterion is overall economy. In kilometres long,” Marcus Stenstrand The transmission line areas are 2009, Fingrid has a clearing contract says in explaining the large number of cleared mechanically; either by heavy with 20 enterprises. letters. machinery or hand-held machines. Earlier, clearing work was commu- Fingrid’s Maintenance Management Landowners notified by letter nicated through newspaper advertise- Manager Marcus Stenstrand says that ments and on Fingrid’s website, but the herbicides, which are still used in some Fingrid does not own the land areas un- information did not always reach all der the transmission lines or the trees landowners.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 32 Trees close to a transmission line Trees in border zone managed Remember that the “fuse” never should always be felled by profes- at intervals of 10 to 25 years blows in a transmission line, but it is sionals. Fingrid offers advice in mat- always dangerous! ters concerning yard trees, and free The goal is to manage the edges of felling assistance. transmission line areas so that if a tree over a distance of 400 to 800 kilometres falls there, it must not reach the con- per year. Trees are property of the landowner ductors. Excessively tall trees are felled, or their tops are cut by 2 to 4 metres us- Guideline for forest management The trees felled in the transmission ing sawing from a helicopter. Decay in a recommendations for border zones line areas frequently rouse the inter- tree with a cut top progresses so slow- est of passers-by. “We receive hun- ly that a landowner does not need to fell A forest owner should always take the dreds of telephone calls and e-mail the trees right away. Instead, they can border zone of a transmission line into messages every year from people who be harvested in conjunction with the account when managing forest areas ask for a permission to fetch firewood next logging if one is planned to take bordered by a power line. Tall trees in from a newly-cleared transmission line place within the next 4 to 8 years. the border zone are felled in conjunc- area. The answer is always the same: tion with intermediate felling. The bor- ‘the trees belong to the landowners, If a transmission line is damaged der zone trees are also felled in con- so you’d better ask them’. The closer and the current conductor is on the junction with regeneration felling, be- the cleared area is to a large town, the ground or close to the ground, it is cause the maturity of the border zone more firewood inquiries we receive,” dangerous to life to go near it. trees is determined by their prescribed Marcus Stenstrand says. maximum length, not the age of the People would also like to fetch If there is a need to fell the edge trees. Christmas trees from a transmission trees, Fingrid endeavours to arrange In order to improve forest manage- line area, but the same reply concerns joint felling and sales, with the trees ment in the border zones of transmis- them, too. felled by professionals. However, as sion line areas, Fingrid has drawn up the owner of the trees, the landown- new forest management recommen- For safety reasons, timber or energy er has a right to decide how to arrange dations for the border zones togeth- wood must not be stored under a trans- the harvesting and sales of border zone er with Forestry Development Centre mission line or closer than 10 metres trees, which need to be felled because Tapio. This guideline in Finnish can be from the closest current conductor of of transmission line maintenance. downloaded from Fingrid’s website. the line in the lateral direction. Trees in the border zone are managed

FINGRID 2/2009 | 32 FINGRID 2/2009 | 33 Grid ABC

This article series deals with the main operating principles, equipment units and components in the main grid. The articles published in the series previously can be viewed on our website at www.fingrid.fi.

Static Var Compensator in Kangasala Text by Matti Lahtinen Photograph by Hannu Heikkinen

ingrid has introduced new in- take a maximum reactive power of 200 ity of the SVC. The SVC can implement a telligent technology at the Kan- Mvar from it. change of 440 Mvar in reactive power in gasala substation, intended as little as just over 100 milliseconds. Fto improve the stability of the Structure of the facility The thyristor control causes harmon- power system. The compensator taken ic waves which are filtered by means of into use for the first time in the Finnish The Kangasala SVC consists of four con- harmonic filters so that only an accepta- electricity transmission grid will make trollable components and one harmonic ble amount of them can access the trans- the nation-wide grid more “intelligent” filter group connected stationarily to the mission grid. The thyristors are cooled by improving its system security. grid (Figure 1). The reactors and capac- by water and glycol in outdoor heat ex- The Static Var Compensator (SVC) con- itors are located outdoors, but the thyr- changers. The cooling system keeps the nected at the Kangasala 400 kilovolt sub- istor valves are situated indoors in the thyristors at almost constant tempera- station primarily intends to dampen inter- same facility as the control and protec- ture irrespective of the loading. area mechanical power oscillations in the tion system of the SVC, and batteries. The nominal voltage of the capacitor power system, i.e. improve its stability and The thyristor-controlled capacitors is optimised to be 20 kV, but it influenc- hence system security. The damping ef- consist of antiparallel thyristor valves es the voltage of the 400 kV network via a fect of the SVC can also be utilised in re- and a capacitor battery of 132 Mvar, 410/20 kV transformer. stricting the impact of line outages occur- which is connected to and from the grid The total costs of the investment, en- ring in the transmission grid on the trans- by means of the thyristor valves. The thy- compassing the 400 kV duplex field, mission capacity of the system. ristor-controlled reactors consist of an- transformer and the SVC facility, were The SVC can improve the damping of tiparallel thyristor valves and a reactor approx. 12 million euros. low-frequency power oscillations, be- of 92 Mvar. The reactive power generated cause the reactive power generated by it by the reactor can be controlled stepless- Principles of operation can be regulated very quickly and step- ly and very quickly by means of the thyr- lessly, which also enables supporting istor valves. SVC operation is controlled by a dupli- the voltage of the transmission grid. The By co-ordinating the switching of the cated numerical control system, and the Kangasala SVC is dimensioned so that it thyristor-controlled reactors and capaci- SVC works fully automatically in local can feed a maximum reactive power of tors, the reactive power generated by the control. Only measures related to chang- 240 Mvar to the 400 kilovolt network and SVC can be varied freely within the capac- ing and setting the SVC’s control function

FINGRID 2/2009 | 34 SVC facility at the Kangasala substation.

are carried out in remote control from system, and as a result of the change the ted between Finland and Sweden. The Fingrid’s Power System Control Cen- system remains oscillating around the more power transmitted, the small- tre or Network Control Centre. Depend- new state of balance. er the change situation in the grid that ing on the SVC’s respective use, the con- The lowest oscillation frequencies re- causes significant oscillations. As an ex- trol system generates a control signal to lated to the purpose of use of the Kan- ample, the tripping of a line in a situa- the thyristors on the basis of a measure- gasala SVC are created when large ma- tion where no power is transmitted be- ment carried out in the 400 kV network. chinery groups in the power system os- tween the countries causes oscillations, The SVC has a specific control function cillate against each other. The greater but they are dampened very quickly and for each of the three uses of the SVC, and the (electric) distance of the machinery their magnitude remains small. On the each control function operates using a from each other and the larger the ma- other hand, if much power is transmit- different measured variable. chinery groups involved in the oscillation, ted between the countries, the magni- 1. Damping of inter-area power os- the lower the frequency of the oscillation tude of the oscillations in a correspond- cillations between them. ing change situation is significant, and Damping control is the primary control The most typical inter-area oscillation damping is correspondingly poorer. method of the Kangasala SVC, used for frequency is approx. 0.3 Hz. This is the controlling reactive power on the basis specific frequency while machinery in Transformer requirements of the local frequency measurement to Southern Finland and Southern Sweden/ dampen power oscillations taking place Southern Norway oscillates against each The necessary capacity of the transform- in the grid. In practice, damping control other. The corresponding natural oscil- er is always determined by the current activates the SVC when frequency meas- lation frequency of machinery between going through the transformer. In other urement detects oscillations with an am- Northern Finland and Southern Finland words, the nominal power of the trans- plitude exceeding the threshold value set is approx. 1.1 Hz. former is determined by the maximum for the control. Such situations can be ex- The damping of oscillations is influ- reactive power of the SVC, in this case pected primarily when there are trans- enced by a number of factors, but to put 240 Mvar of capacitive reactive power. missions from Finland to Sweden. it simply, damping reduces as electrici- The structure of the transformer is or- 2. Constant reactive power control ty transmissions between the regions dinary, but the feeding of a large reactive Constant reactive power control is the increase. In other words, the deteriora- power volume to the grid has been taken secondary mode of control of the Kan- tion of oscillation damping generally re- into account in its design values. gasala SVC, which, as the name sug- flects the fact that the power transmit- This is so because capacitive reactive gests, aims to keep the reactive power ted between two regions is approaching power raises the secondary voltage by generated by the SVC at a constant lev- the maximum transmission capacity be- the relative short-circuit impedance of el. Constant reactive power control can tween the regions. the transformer, and the iron core must be used to support normal 400 kV net- With system-frequency oscillations, be dimensioned to be slightly larger. The work voltage control, for example during the significance of the oscillations de- design values for the transformer core a small load in the middle of summer. pends on the transmission situation in also take into account the direct compo- 3. Constant voltage control the power system, in other words on nent caused by the small asymmetry in Constant voltage control is also a sec- how much power is being transmit- thyristor control. ondary control method, aiming to keep the voltage of the 400 kV busbar at the Simplified main diagram of the KAngasala set value on the basis of the 400 kV volt- 400 kV SVC facility. T4 is power trans- age measurement. This control method former, 410/20 kV, 250 MVA. can be used to support 400 kV network TSC1 and TSC2 are thyristor- voltage control in extraordinary operat- connected 132 Mvar capacitors, T4 SVC -200... +240 Mvar ing situations. TCR1 and TCR2 are thyristor- 410/20 kV controlled 92 Mvar reactors. Z5, Low-frequency power oscillations Z7 and Z11 are harmonic filters, usually 34 Mvar. in the transmission grid 20 kV

Power oscillations occur in the power system after various types of changes. Such changes include line faults, sudden tripping of power plants from the grid,

and major load changes. These cause an TSC1 TCR1 Z11 Z7 Z5 TCR2 TSC2 imbalance in the static state of the power

FINGRID 2/2009 | 34 FINGRID 2/2009 | 35 Night birds

FINGRID 2/2009 | 36 Eyes on nature

he setting sun turns the rug- from owl nestlings, and people should ged steep red, but it is al- do so, too. ready a bit dark further down Even in the daytime, Northern ea- under the spruce trees. A gle owls are magnificent and fascinat- young Northern eagle owl ing birds, but nocturnal dusk renders glidesT along the cliff and descends on them even more interesting. The shift- a boulder. It starts to preen its feathers, over beyond the border, to the world of scratches its ear and stretches its long night creatures, makes them “hyypiäs” wings. Then it hisses in a hoarse voice. again. That name, which is at least 5,000 Hunger! The fasting of a long day is be- years old, belongs to the bird which hind, now it is time to get some food. was greatly respected by the fore­ It is late summer, but the events at fathers of Finns. The bird supposed- the steep commenced in the winter. ly had a close relationship with the un- The hollow courtship song of the male derworld where the spirits of the dead Northern eagle owl echoed in the frosty lived. “Hyypiäs” were soul escorts and February nights, and the courtship rit- assistants of shamans, in whose figure uals reached their peak in early March. they travelled to the underworld. Heikki Willamo, the new columnist Then the female laid three round eggs of the Fingrid magazine, is a pho- in a sheltered cavity, hatched them tographer, author and journalist for about six weeks, and stayed in the The world gone by comes from Karjalohja. He has published nest even after this to keep the nest- several nature books for both chil- lings warm. The nestlings grew rapid- to life when you listen to dren and adults; most recently “Hir- ly, and when summer came, they were the courtship shrieks, gaze ven klaani” (Otava 2005), “Pyhät ku- already like small trolls with fiery eyes, a young owl striding in the vat kalliossa” (together with Timo leaping from the nest ledge and climb- Miettinen,­ Otava 2007) and “Huuh­ ing on the cliff in the dusk of the night. dusk of the summer night, or kajavuorella” (together with Leo In the daytime, they kept strictly to the admire the horned silhouette Vuo­rinen, Maahenki 2008). Heikki cavities of the crag. of the head of an adult owl. Willamo’s special objects of inter- During the summer, the fluffy nest- est include forest nature in South- lings evolved into handsome Northern ern Finland, Northern rock art, and eagle owls, and it was difficult to tell myths related to animals. them apart from their parents. They The world gone by comes to life when fly suspended by their large wings, you listen to the courtship shrieks, gaze and their hungry hisses resound in the a young owl striding in the dusk of the dark in all parts of the large rocky hill. summer night, or admire the horned The male owl takes care of his fami- silhouette of the head of an adult owl. lide together and merge into one, seek- ly throughout the long nesting period, The curtain opens slightly, and you get ing balance by spreading their large and his work continues until early Oc- to peek beyond times, to see the dance wings. tober. He carries to his offspring mostly of the mountain goblins and experi- The moment is soon over. The male moles but also young raccoon dogs and ence the magic of nature. In those mo- takes to its wings and disappears be- rabbits, ducks and gulls. The feathers ments, I commend myself for my ca- hind the trees. The sun is slowly set- of a young buzzard on a stump show reer choice, because it gives me an op- ting. I lay down on the soft moss. The how versatile the menu is. portunity to be part of something which night takes over, and the owls disap- I have had an opportunity to monitor is concealed from most. I get to enjoy pear into the darkness. Once more, I the everyday life of the family of North- a connection to nature, advance it, and see the magnificent silhouette against ern eagle owls, follow how the nest- sometimes embark on the vortex of the glowing sky, and then my world re- lings grow, and how the male works imagination. Both the biologist and lov- lies on my ears. It’s quiet, only the oc- hard. A couple of times I have been er of ancient ages in me are satisfied. casional begging sound every now and scared off by the large female when I The young Northern eagle owl still then. Finally, the much-awaited signal have inadvertently approached a nes- sits in place, hisses every now and then, blow further down. Agitated hissing, tling which has been in hiding. The and stares down to the valley. Then it and then beaks clanging together. The mother owl looks lazy while perched on sees the male, which flies to the boul- night birds do not sleep, it is turn for the a branch, but her gloomy warnings are der with a mole in its beak. The young next hungry one. backed by a body weighing three kilos, one becomes excited, hisses wildly, Heikki Willamo and sharp hook claws. A fox stays away and attacks the comer. The owls col-

FINGRID 2/2009 | 36 FINGRID 2/2009 | 37 INBRIEF

service to verify a party’s balance set- Fingrid has expanded its web service tlement information conforming to the Fingrid expanded its web services in the early part of this year by launching a new balance model applied as of 2009. The Extranet service for the invoicing measurement and balance settlement system, service also serves as an interactive referred to as LTJ Extranet. channel for the reporting of fixed de- liveries and production plan informa- he web service now consists of three “If a customer wishes, he can have a tion. The reporting section of the bal- sections: Fingrid’s external website, real-time connection to Fingrid’s sys- ance service is primarily intended for Extranet, and LTJ Extranet. tem for managing invoicing and follow- T presenting customer-specific invoic- LTJ Extranet is divided into the net- up related to various contracts. This ing data. work service and balance service. The improves transparency and operation- Fingrid will finish the sending of re- balance service section provides the al quality,” says Antti Vesanen, devel- active power reports by mail from the electricity market parties with an op- oper of the new LTJ Extranet from Fin- beginning of May. portunity to view their own balance set- grid’s energy settlement unit. “We have opened a reactive power tlement information and that of parties “The new service gives our clients a user profile in the LTJ Extranet for all included in their balance responsibility. swift and easy way to follow measure- those to whom we have sent a reactive The network service section contains ment information as almost real-time power report on paper,” Antti Vesanen information on issues such as grid in- hourly data,” he adds. says. voicing, cross-border transmission in- The balance service section contains New users can report their informa- voicing and electricity tax invoicing as general balance settlement informa- tion to Fingrid’s customer service. LTJ well as time series data related to the tion shared by all as well as custom- Extranet can be accessed either via the monitoring of reactive power use. The er-specific energy settlement and in- LTJ Extranet link on our website or di- system can also provide measurement voicing data. Balance settlement data rectly from address https://energia- appendices to the grid contract, invoice is presented as hourly information so selvitys.fingrid.fi. specifications, and various reports. that it is possible to use the Extranet

Municipalities and network companies as partners in the landscape management of rural areas ProAgria Pirkanmaa has launched a project for developing the landscape manage- ment of rural areas. In addition to municipalities, the partners include Fingrid and energy company Vattenfall.

he purpose of the project is to ex- The project will survey fields and periment with landscape man- meadows in built-up areas, draw up ar- Tagement contracting in areas ea-specific landscape and nature man- owned by the municipalities of Nokia, agement plans, and study the manage- Sastamala, Urjala, Vesilahti and Virrat. ment of the areas by local agricultur- The foremost areas managed include al entrepreneurs. The management natural green areas such as meadows, methods can include mowing, pastur- fields, transmission line areas, and ing, clearing, or growing of landscape lakeside and riverside areas. plants. The project also studies the in- The project involves seven partners. terest of entrepreneurs to produce Transmission system operator Fingrid landscape management services, and and energy company Vattenfall will arranges training in the field. manage meadow-like line areas. Source: ProAgria Pirkanmaa

FINGRID 2/2009 | 38 Dimensioning fault in Finnish power system back to 865 megawatts Protection changes were carried out at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant during the annual service in May. As a result of this work, the behaviour of the plant in faults in the nearby region was restored to the former state.

fter the change, the dimension- jacent area unless the fault concerns ing fault in the Finnish power the plant unit itself. Asystem is again at a level of 865 As a result of the change, the limited MW, which corresponds to the pow- import capacity has also been restored er of one unit at Olkiluoto. The plants to the level of 2,050 MW in a normal op- no longer reduce their power in voltage erating situation. There were no hours Fingrid’s power system control takes care of the state of the system continuously. dips caused by short circuits in the ad- with price area differences during the import restriction.

Answer the below questions and send your reply by fax (number +358 (0)30 395 5196) or mail to Fingrid no later than 18 September 2009. Address: Fingrid Oyj, PL 530, 00101 HELSINKI, Grid Quiz FINLAND. Mark the envelope with “Verkkovisa”. Competition to the readers Among all those who have given right answers, we give 5 books “Intohimona sienet” by of Fingrid Magazine Antonio Carluccio by drawing lots. The book contains more than 100 recipes for delicious mushroom dishes from the various parts of the world, from salads and soups to main courses. We will inform the winners in person. The answers to the questions can be found in the articles of this magazine. 1. Fingrid’s transmission lines are nowa- 3. After the war, one of the foremost tasks 5. IARC (International Agency for Re- days built mostly using in reconstruction in Finland was to se- search on Cancer) has categorised low- guyed wooden towers cure electricity supply. How many ongoing frequency magnetic fields in Group 2B in guyed steel towers large power plant projects were there in terms of their carcinogenic nature. The self-supporting steel towers. Finland in 1946? same group also includes substances 4 such as 2. Fingrid’s “Sinikurjet” (Blue cranes) 8 tobacco landscape towers can be admired in 12. UV radiation Espoo at the junction of Turuntie Road coffee. and Ring Road III 4. The first electric train in Finland was in- beside the Helsinki-Tampere motorway troduced in 1969 on the service between 6. Fingrid’s transmission line areas are in Meilahti in Helsinki. Helsinki and Riihimäki cleared using Riihimäki and Lahti chemical clearing Helsinki and Kirkkonummi. mechanical clearing (= by heavy ma- chinery or hand-held machines) both chemical and mechanical clearing. Name 7. The wood material piled up beside Fin- Address grid’s transmission line areas after the clearing of trees is Post office property of the landowner property of Fingrid E-mail address available to anyone based on every- Telephone number man’s right.

Winners of prizes of the Grid Quiz in the previous Fingrid magazine (1/2009): Petteri Helisten, Kuopio; Tuomo Jokinen, Helsinki; Juha Kangasmäki, Jyväskylä; Ella Käck, Helsinki and Rei- jo Lehtonen, Valkeakoski.

FINGRID 2/2009 | 38 FINGRID 2/2009 | 39 Taking care of the lines.

Fingrid is responsible for the nation-wide electricity transmission Our line areas are also utilised as growing grid in Finland. We make sure that Finland obtains electricity areas for plants, trees and berries, and as without disturbance. The total length of our transmission lines is butterfly habitats. approx. 14,000 kilometres.

As the owner of the transmission lines, we take care of our duty and keep the lines reliable and in a condition conforming to the safety regulations. It is safe to move and pick berries and mushrooms under our transmission lines.

FINGRID OYJ

Arkadiankatu 23 B, P.O.Box 530, FI-00101 Helsinki • Tel +358 30 395 5000 • Fax +358 30 395 5196 • www.fingrid.fi

Helsinki Hämeenlinna Oulu Petäjävesi Varkaus P.O.Box 530 Valvomotie 11 Lentokatu 2 Sähkötie 24 Wredenkatu 2 FI-00101 Helsinki FI-13110 Hämeenlinna FI-90460 Oulunsalo FI-41900 Petäjävesi FI-78250 Varkaus Finland Finland Finland Finland Finland Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Tel. +358 30 395 5000 Fax +358 30 395 5196 Fax +358 30 395 5336 Fax + 358 30 395 5711 Fax +358 30 395 5524 Fax +358 30 395 5611