2/2012 - Fingrid

Planning of networksolutions:ADVANCES THROUGHANTICIPATIONIn July 2010, the Finnish Parliament adopted decisions in principleconcerning the construction of two new nuclear power plants. Fingridis making preparations for connecting these new nuclear power unitsto the Finnish transmission system. Analyses of the grid upgradesrequired by the plants have been launched.Text by Maria Hallila | Photographs by Juhani Eskelinen and Esko Keski-OjaThe grid reinforcements will requirethat the planning and environmentalsurveys of the projectsare carried out in stages. The environmentalimpact assessment (EIA) of the400 kilovolt transmission line routesrelated to Teollisuuden Voima’s (TVO)Olkiluoto 4 nuclear power plant unitin Western Finland unit was launchedtowards the end of 2011. The EIA procedurefor the transmission lines requiredby Fennovoima’s Hanhikivi 1 nuclearpower plant further up north is also beingprepared.Fingrid will make the decisions on thefurther planning and construction of thetransmission lines later on the basis ofthe decisions made by the companiesresponsible for the nuclear power projects.Far-reaching developmentIn just over one year after the decisionby Parliament, Fingrid presented theEIA programme concerning the transmissionline projects required by theOlkiluoto 4 plant unit. The swift reactionwas enabled by the company’slong-term and flexible approach tonetwork development plans. This modeof operation has also become standardprocedure as a result of experience accumulatedfrom numerous transmissionline projects.“We have been thinking about therough outlines of network solutions foradditional nuclear power capacity for alength of time. Routes were introducedin regional land use plans as early as2007 and 2008,” says Fingrid’s ProjectManager Mika Penttilä.He says that connecting a generationfacility the size of the Olkiluoto 4 nuclearpower plant unit to the transmissionsystem always calls for new 400kilovolt transmission lines. Preparationsare being made to build a double circuit400 kilovolt transmission line fromOlkiluoto to Rauma and a new 110 kilovoltline to run parallel with it.Moreover, the transmission grid needsto be reinforced by new transmissionlines from Rauma to Ulvila, Forssa andLieto.The transmission lines will be locatedin the area of 19 towns and municipalitiesin the regions of South-WesternFinland, Satakunta and Kanta-Häme.In accordance with the national landuse objectives, the goal is to plan andbuild the new transmission lines parallelwith existing lines or to replace them,using existing transmission line areaswherever possible.Surveys aheadMika Penttilä says that the total lengthof the transmission line routes coveredby the EIA of the project is 390 kilometres.Numerous nature and archaeologicalsurveys have already been conductedin the routes.“There is much to survey, because thewest coast of Finland has been settledsince times immemorial, and the areacontains many historical sites. Some naturevalues have also been investigatedover several years.”Visualisations will be drawn up ofsites along the line routes. These give anunderstanding of what the new transmissionlines will look like in a familiarFINGRID 2/2012 | 26