The route of a planned transmission line may change if the environmental impact assessment (EIA) reveals significant natural assets. There is currently a backlog in EIA projects.
The design of the main grid includes making preparations for a climate-neutral society in which the importance of electricity is constantly increasing. Over the coming decades, the emissions produced by generating electricity must be lowered, and electricity consumers must be offered the best opportunities to obtain clean electricity.
The work to upgrade the Lake Line from Oulu to Lappeenranta to a 400-kilovolt transmission line began in the summer and autumn with the planning of environmental impact assessments (EIAs). The first projects to be assessed are the Vaala–Joroinen project and the Rovaniemi–Vaala project further north.
When Fingrid plans a transmission line route, a team of experts also assesses its impacts on the landscape. Landscape values can be associated with nature or the built environment and history. For example, a rapids or factory milieu may be a valuable site where the route selection is carefully considered.
Whenever there are plans to construct new transmission lines, the valuable habitats and species of the area are thoroughly surveyed. The protected Moor Frog or a species-rich swamp may send the plans back to the drawing board.
Fingrid’s largest investment ever – a 400 kilovolt transmission connection from Pori to Oulu – was completed in 2016. According to Fingrid’s Executive Vice President Kari Kuusela, the new Western Finland transmission connection meets the challenges of a new era.
The EIA procedure of a transmission line project investigates the project’s impact on people and nature in the area. Residents are asked to provide feedback on transmission line routes, and the terrain is inspected from several points of view.
“We genuinely want to take people and the environment into account and to do things well and in a cooperative spirit. We are constantly improving the flexibility of our EIA process,” says Fingrid’s Land Use Manager, Ilkka Alm.
Fingrid Oyj
Läkkisepäntie 21
00620 Helsinki
Tel. 030 395 5267
Fingrid.fi
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Fingrid is Finland’s transmission system operator. We secure reliable electricity cost effectively for our customers and society, and shape the clean, market-oriented power system of the future.
