Shunt compensation significantly improves the transmission capacity of the main grid to Southern Finland

The green transition and the electrification of society are increasing electricity consumption throughout Southern Finland. At the same time, electricity production in the region is decreasing as incineration-based plants are shut down. Fingrid is augmenting electricity transmission capacity to Southern Finland by means of shunt compensation.

Electricity consumption in Southern Finland is rising faster than expected, especially due to the electrification of heating. At the same time, renewable electricity production is focused on Northern and Western Finland, which significantly increases the need to transfer electricity from these regions to Southern Finland. Maintaining the power system requires voltage support as electricity is transferred over long distances and the system no longer includes traditional cogeneration plants to balance it.

Fingrid will acquire 20 capacitors for nine Fingrid substations in its shunt compensation project. This project includes a total of eight 400-kilovolt capacitors for the Lieto, Forssa, Yllikkälä and Espoo substations and twelve 20-kilovolt capacitors for the Visulahti, Nurmijärvi, Inkoo, Lavianvuori and Kymi substations. Setting up shunt compensation will increase the transmission capacity of the power grid. Thanks to this, electricity transmission capacity from the production clusters in Northern and Western Finland to Southern Finland can be stepped up in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner.

Shunt compensation enables the efficient use of the main grid by increasing the transmission capacity of both current and future power lines. With these investments, the transmission capacity of the main grid to Southern Finland will increase by an estimated 1,000 megawatts. In addition, the project supports green transition consumption projects in Southern Finland, such as electric boiler, data centre, hydrogen and industrial investments. 

Investments in shunt compensation do not eliminate the need to build power line projects as part of Fingrid's investment programme, but they enable client projects to be connected to the main grid on a faster schedule. The investments will also enhance the use of future power lines and facilitate the management of outages in the main grid.

The project will be implemented in two phases and completed in 2026-2027.

Further information:

Timo Kiiveri, Executive Vice President, Fingrid Oyj, +358 30 395 5136