Living adjacent to a transmission line - Fingrid

Taking care of the <strong>line</strong>sTRANSMISSION LINE INSPECTIONS CONSTITUTETHE BASIS FOR MAINTENANCEAs the owner of the <strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong>, <strong>Fingrid</strong> hasan obligation <strong>to</strong> maintain the <strong>line</strong> in the conditionprescribed by electric safety regulations. In order<strong>to</strong> fulfil this obligation, the company’s employeesand service providers have the right <strong>to</strong> move inthe <strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong> area on foot and by usingmachinery and vehicles, <strong>to</strong> use roads and pathsleading <strong>to</strong> the <strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong> area and <strong>to</strong> useother areas, if necessary. The condition of the<strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong> and the height of vegetation inthe <strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong> area are moni<strong>to</strong>red with thehelp of inspections carried out at intervals of 1 <strong>to</strong>3 years.The inspections are used for observing issues such as:- vegetation in the <strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong> area, newstructures, excavations- potential inclination of <strong>to</strong>wer structures, conditionof steel parts- grounding and foundations- condition of insula<strong>to</strong>rs and conduc<strong>to</strong>rs.In the winter, snow accumulating on the conduc<strong>to</strong>rsis removed whenever necessary.REGULAR MANAGEMENT OF TREESGUARANTEES RELIABILITYTrees in the right-of-way are cleared mechanicallyor manually every 5 <strong>to</strong> 8 years.Trees in the border zones of <strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong>s aremanaged at intervals of 10 <strong>to</strong> 25 years. Excessivelytall trees are felled or their <strong>to</strong>ps are cut by 2 <strong>to</strong> 4metres by means of a helicopter. Trees <strong>to</strong>p-endedwith helicopter sawing do not need <strong>to</strong> be harvestedright away. Decay in a tree with a cut <strong>to</strong>pprogresses so slowly that decay damage does notreduce the value of timber if its felling is combinedwith the logging of some <strong>adjacent</strong> forestarea in the coming years. It is also worthwhile loggingborder zone trees, whose <strong>to</strong>ps have not beencut, at the same time.<strong>Fingrid</strong> informs landowners by letter of the clearingof rights-of-ways and management of trees inthe border zones.If there is a need <strong>to</strong> fell the trees in the borderzone, <strong>Fingrid</strong> endeavours <strong>to</strong> arrange joint fellingand sales of the timber. However, as the owner ofthe trees, the landowner has a right <strong>to</strong> decide how<strong>to</strong> arrange the harvesting and sales of border zonetrees, which need <strong>to</strong> be felled because of <strong>transmission</strong><strong>line</strong> maintenance. In any case, it is important<strong>to</strong> remember that logging close <strong>to</strong> a <strong>transmission</strong><strong>line</strong> requires special professional skills, and landownersshould not do this on their own.If most of the trees in the border zone are <strong>to</strong>o tall,it is usually most sensible <strong>to</strong> use <strong>to</strong>tal manage-6ment of the border zone so that all other treesexcept those that are considerably shorter than the 7trees shown in the diagram on page 5 are felled inthe border zone.Forest management for the border zones of <strong>transmission</strong><strong>line</strong> areas involves many special features,which should be taken in<strong>to</strong> account when decidingon the forest regeneration and managementmeasures. In order <strong>to</strong> enhance forest managementin these special areas, Forestry DevelopmentCentre Tapio has drawn up forest managementrecommendations for border zones. These recommendationsare presented in a forest managementcard, which can be downloaded (in Finnish) from<strong>Fingrid</strong>’s website.COMPENSATIONS FOR THE USE OF PRIVATE ROADS<strong>Fingrid</strong> signs 10-year maintenance road agreementswith road owners on the use of privateroads leading <strong>to</strong> the <strong>transmission</strong> <strong>line</strong> areas.<strong>Fingrid</strong>, the Central Union of Agricultural Producersand Forest Owners (MTK) and the CentralUnion of Swedish-Speaking Agricultural Producersin Finland (SLC) have drawn up a compensationrecommendation concerning the use of privateroads. Among other things, the recommendationspecifies the unit prices of road usage fees forvarious usage categories.