Iron Lady II transmission line project enters the home stretch
A little over two-year project in which the oldest power line in Finland, named Iron Lady, is replaced with a new one has now entered the home stretch. The most challenging part of the project was crossing Iso-Henna. By Iso-Henna the new Iron Lady II power line was built simultaneously over four electrified railways and the busy Lahti motorway.
Empower and Finland’s transmission system operator Fingrid carried out the railway and the motorway crossing successfully at the end of October. To minimize the effects on traffic all work was carried out at night and Empower and Fingrid designed the stoppings together with the authorities so that the traffic experienced no unnecessary standstill.
- Initially we had booked two weeks for the whole, but with everything going smoothly, we managed to complete the crossing in 7 nights. During the first night we dismantled the old Iron Lady and during the following nights the new Iron Lady II was built one by one. As the new transmission line has both 400 kV and 110 kV transmission lines with three phases, two to three conductor elements and overhead ground wires on the same pylon, this totaled some 25 crossings, says Ville Seppänen, Project Manager at Empower.
A similar location, with several train tracks and a motorway to be crossed, is not easily found in Finland. The challenging location required good planning and seamless cooperation between the various players involved. In total, some 15 professionals were present each night to take care of the different stages of the work and the traffic control in the area.
- We managed to minimize traffic disturbance and the few interruptions of about 10 minutes during the night did not generate feedback. The project has proceeded according plans and I'm pleased with our collaboration and the team, which succeeded well in such an exceptional work. This is a good way to continue, comments Project Manager Hannu Kuikka at Fingrid.
More information
Hannu Kuikka, Fingrid, tel. +358 (0)30 395 5216
Ville Seppänen, Empover, tel. +358 (0)50 344 4681