Living adjacent to a transmission line - Fingrid

Many ways to utilisethe transmission line areaHUNTINGGood visibility renders transmission line areas suitedfor hunting. For safety reasons, the shootingplaces must be located so that the line structuresare not in the line of fire. The erection of huntingtowers should be agreed upon in advance withFingrid. Game fields can be established on oldfields located in rights-of-ways. A permit for clearingnew fields should be requested from Fingrid.ESTABLISHING A ROAD OR OUTDOOR ROUTEYou can jog and ski in a transmission line area. Apermit from the landowner and a statement fromFingrid are required for the building of a road,outdoor recreation route, jogging track or skiingtrack in a transmission line area.USE OF SNOWMOBILESWith the landowner’s and Fingrid’s permit, atransmission line area can be used for snowmobileriding. Snowmobile riding is, however, strictly forbiddenin tower areas. A snowmobile route mustbe placed so far from the towers that there is norisk of collision with the tower legs or guys.In addition to cultivation and grazing, rights-ofwayscan be utilised in many ways.BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURESline. It is advisable to inform Fingrid, which decideson the placing of power line bird markers, of other similar components. The sound caused bynear the surface of conductors, insulators and12It is forbidden to construct a building in a13RECREATIONAL USEStransmission line area. If you want to build otherlocations where birds collide with a line.corona is loudest in moist weather or in the winterA transmission line area is suited for many types structures such as shelters, roads, parking areas,when hoar frost accumulates on the conductors. ItThere has been extensive research on the potentialhealth impacts of the electric and magneticof recreational uses. You can hike and pick berries overhead lines, underground cables, water pipes,is practically almost impossible to prevent coronaand mushrooms in a transmission line area. Transmissionlines also constitute habitats favoured by a permit must be acquired from Fingrid for thesewers, lighting posts, flag poles, fish basins etc.,discharge completely, but since the sound is alwaysan indication of energy losses, the goal is tofields created around transmission lines. Based onresearch findings, these fields do not cause a riskbutterflies and many plant species.location and building of these.reduce this phenomenon. Corona occurs mainly atto people or animals. Publications on this topic inthe 400 kV voltage level.Finnish can be downloaded from Fingrid’s website.Long lighting lines and other lines laid over theground under a transmission line may also causea hazard. A permit is also needed if you wish tomake changes to a structure built earlier in thetransmission line area.SOIL EXTRACTION AND DISPOSAL, DITCHINGA permit from Fingrid is required for the extractionof gravel, sand, clay, earth and peat in theright-of-way. The same applies to ditching andsoil heaps being dumped in a transmission linearea.It is prohibited to dig ditches in a tower area.The sides of a ditch must never be closer thanthree metres from the tower and guy structures.If the depth of a ditch to be dug is more thanhalf a metre, the underground grounding electrodesmust be taken into account. Fingrid mustbe informed immediately of broken groundingelectrodes.Good to knowScientific research has not found that transmissionlines would have adverse effects on the healthor fertility of pasturing animals. It has not beenestablished that the licking of wooden towerswhich have been treated with creosote would havenegative effects on animals. A statement on thisissue has been submitted, among others, by theDepartment of Food and Environmental Hygieneof the University of Veterinary Medicine in Finlandon 25 October 1994.Power line bird markers can be used on theconductors near the routes of migratory birds orin locations where birds nest to warn birds of theAccording to the Finnish Meteorological Institute,transmission lines do not increase lightningnor direct the movements of thunder clouds, butthe lines actually increase lightning safety. Sincethe transmission line towers are usually higherthan their immediate environment and sincethey are also grounded, they ”attract” strokes oflightning which would strike in any case in theadjacent area.The line is constructed so that a stroke of lightningis guided through the overhead ground wireinto the ground in a harmless manner. In otherwords, it is not advisable to stay in the immediatevicinity of a transmission line during thunderstorm.Transmission lines cannot influence the number ofstrokes of lightning, either. Their number dependsentirely on the properties of the thunder cloud,not on the underlying towers.The buzzing sound heard near a transmissionline is caused by corona discharge occurring onthe surface of the conductors or insulators. Thecorona phenomenon is harmless to people. Thephenomenon is caused by the ionisation of airHigh-voltage lines may also cause sounds createdas a result of wind which shakes the various partsof the line such as steel towers, conductors, crossarmsor insulators. These sounds occur irrespectiveof whether the line is live or not.