Fingrid granted €25m for promoting clean energy

The Finnish national electricity transmission grid operator, Fingrid was granted a total of about EUR 25 million in Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funding, in accordance with Finland’s recovery and resilience plan.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has granted the funding for three of Fingrid’s main grid projects promoting clean energy, said Fingrid in a press release on Tuesday.

The projects that received funding are the Hepokorpi substation investment in Espoo for a total of EUR 13.72 million, the Kalajoki synchronous compensation project for a total of EUR 8 million, and the shunt compensation project to be implemented in several different locations for a total of EUR 3.2 million.

The new Hepokorpi substation in Espoo will enable an increase in electricity consumption in Espoo and the Helsinki metropolitan area. A Microsoft data centre and a Fortum heat pump plant will also connect to the substation. Fortum will use the waste heat from the data centre to provide emission-free district heating. The substation is planned for construction from 2023 to 2025.

The synchronous compensator to be implemented at the Jylkkä substation in Kalajoki will improve the stability of the main grid, ensure the safe operation of the wind power plants in the area, and enable the connection of new wind power capacity to the main grid. The synchronous compensator will be commissioned in 2025.

The shunt compensation project will involve the construction of capacitor installations at the main grid substation located in Petäjävesi, Jämsä, Espoo, Uusikaarlepyy, Hausjärvi and Alajärvi.

The investment will increase the transmission capacity of the main grid in an environmentally friendly, fast and efficient manner. The transmission capacity from north to south will increase by approximately 500 megawatts.

The project will promote the production of renewable energy and make the use of the main power grid more efficient.

The granted funding will accelerate the modernisation of Finland’s energy system and enable the implementation of projects in their planned scope.