NYAB is building a power distribution station of Fingrid’s substation in Oulu

The service security of the City of Oulu’s electricity supply will improve when Fingrid replaces the Leväsuo substation. The station is an important part of the area’s electricity transmission network. Skarta is the main contractor for the substation building project taking place on challenging terrain.

Fingrid is in the process of replacing the power distribution station of the 110-kilovolt Leväsuo substation and its transmission line. The station, located in Oulu, was built in 1960 and has now come to the end of its useful life. The old substation was an open model, whereas the new one is a gas-insulated internal power distribution station, which means that the new substation will be located inside the building. Skarta won the competitive tendering Fingrid organised for the construction project and the work in Leväsuo began in last September. The contract value is about EUR 1.7 million.

Skarta completed the construction of the power distribution station in May, as agreed, and the project between the Leväsuo substation and the Isokangas substation (located in Ii), including the transmission lines, is planned to be completed by the end of 2023.

Skarta’s project included the earthworks, HVAC and electrical work for the substation building and the massive building itself: a two-storey concrete power distribution station that measures about 50 metres in length, 11 metres in width and 820 square metres in floor area. The basement floor is made of cast-in-situ concrete and the upper floor is made of precast structures. Furthermore, Skarta was also responsible for the foundation and surface work for the yard areas, including the fencing and grounding and the traffic areas’ structure layers and asphalt.

According to Hannu Heikkinen, Project Manager at Fingrid, the developer of the substation, carrying out a project on marshland is challenging, because the groundwater is involved. Thankfully, the parties were aware of the fact before the work began, so all potential problems could be averted.

Once Skarta completed the construction of the substation’s power distribution station in May, control over the site was transferred to Hitachi, which is the project’s main contractor for electrical work and the equipment supplier. Hitachi and Skarta concluded an agreement that continued Skarta’s recently finished construction of the substation on the site: this continuation project includes building the portal foundations and the excavation work for the electric cables and piping, and it will continue until the end of August.