Helsinki, Finland — The enhancements should enable new forms of electricity generation to be connected to the grid and help Finland to remain a single price area.

Fingrid, the transmission system operator, is investing approximately €8 million ($9.5 million) in the Uusnivala substation in Nivala, in the region of North Ostrobothnia. The substation is home to the series compensation equipment for the 400-kilovolt River Line, a transmission line connection to Fingrid’s main transmission grid. According to the company, the money will be used to modernise the control and protection systems and expand the series compensation equipment at the substation in order to increase the transmission capacity between the south and the north of the country. Also, preparations will be made for the connection of new generation facilities, such as wind farms and the Fennovoima nuclear power plant, to the main grid.

According to Fingrid, they had originally planned to carry out a smaller-scale technical refurbishment however, with the growing demand for new connections to electricity generation facilities, the decision was made to also expand the series compensation at the station in addition to the refurbishment.

“This is the most cost-effective solution. By expanding the existing series compensation equipment at the same time as the refurbishment, we can make the most of our existing installations and increase the service life of equipment by 20 years,” says Teemu Hänninen, one of Fingrid's experts.

The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023.

Source: Fingrid