Fingrid owns about 100 control centre buildings in various parts of Finland. The buildings themselves resemble ordinary family homes, right down to the technical building services. The buildings are equipped with a bathroom, small kitchen, heating, ventilation and lighting. However, nobody lives in these houses, and inspection visits are made only rarely.
The new control centres use building automation systems to regulate the temperature. In the coming years, automation will undergo further development to enable more effective monitoring.
“We intend to develop the system so that it enables remote monitoring. At present, automation solutions work locally on the sites,” says Jonne Lantto, Building Automation Specialist at Fingrid.
Due to the number of electrical components, the buildings must not be allowed to get too cold. At warmer times of year, air-source heat pumps can provide cooling if necessary.
The control centre buildings are designed to be energy-efficient. The lack of windows in the buildings ensures that the buildings are airtight and energy-saving. The control centres have electric heating, but the first building heated with geo-thermal energy is currently on the drawing board.
