Last tower of the Iron Lady taken down

The oldest transmission line in Finland, called the Iron Lady, was built 90 years ago. The old transmission line has been renewed piece by piece in the 2000s. The last of the original towers was demolished on 19 December 2019.

In the 1920s, almost 2,000 transmission line towers were erected between Imatra and Turku with 110 kV transmission lines established over a total distance of 560 kilometres. To this day, the Iron Lady has remained an integral part of Finland’s electricity transmission grid. Over the years, however, the original towers fell into disrepair, and Fingrid began renewing the Iron Lady in the early 2000s.

The last part of the project was launched between Hikiä in Hausjärvi and Orimattila in 2017. Instead of just the original 110 kV transmission line, a 400 + 110 kV transmission line was built in this section. The renewed transmission line, called the Iron Lady II, had to be built under challenging conditions in some areas. Work was done overnight, for example, over the busy Lahti motorway.

The last transmission line tower of the original Iron Lady, which was demolished on Thursday, was located in Iso-Henna, Orimattila. The demolition of this transmission line tower marks the completion of the long renewal project. Fingrid’s Project Manager Hannu Kuikka says: “The last Iron Lady renewal project is now happily behind us, and the work succeeded very well despite many challenges. Thanks to all those involved.”  

Additional information:
Hannu Kuikka, Project Manager
tel. +358 (0)30 395 5216

High resolution pictures of the demolition in Fingrid's newsroom in Epressi. Choose tab Kuvat:
https://www.epressi.com/uutishuoneet/fingrid-oyj.html

More information of original Iron Lady on Fingrid magazine:
https://www.fingridlehti.fi/en/switch-renewables/?highlight=iron%20lady