Statnett to test aluminium pylons
Image: Kraftmontasje
Norwegian TSO Statnett is to test aluminium pylons as a more sustainable and safer alternative to the traditional steel pylons.
The pylons, of which seventeen are planned, are part of the Blåfalli-Gismarvik 420kV transmission project in step two of the area plan for the Bergen area and Haugalandet.
While Statnett has been working with aluminium pylons, this is the first time the company intends to use several in a single project.
The project is expected to deliver various benefits.
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In Norway, most often helicopters are used to install power pylons, flying the parts out and mounting them on top of each other while assemblers receive them from the mast.
On the one hand aluminium is more expensive than steel to purchase, and thus the production cost per mast is more expensive.
However, an aluminium mast weighs about half of an equivalent steel mast, and with lighter loads, the helicopter can carry more per trip and fewer helicopter trips per mast should be needed.
With the lighter weight the health, safety and environmental protection (HSE) risk should be reduced and with fewer helicopter trips less fuel will be used, which in turn should reduce the carbon emissions in the project.
“It will be exciting to measure efficiency and see if we achieve the HSE and climate benefits that we hope for,” says Christian Færø, acting executive VP for Grid at Statnett.
“What also will be very interesting to see is how shorter travel distances and fewer helicopter trips will have an economic impact on the total cost per installed mast.”
The development of the aluminium masts forms part of Statnett’s technology plan, which includes the advancing of sustainable alternatives and increased safety of its technical solutions.
One of the criteria in awarding the contract for the pylons was that they should have as low a climate footprint as possible and thus they will be constructed from recycled aluminium.
Norsk Hydro will deliver the recycled aluminium, which will be cast and formed into profiles in Sweden, while Marine Aluminium and Stord will be responsible for the actual production.
Norwegian critical infrastructure contractor Kraftmontasje, which has been awarded one of the two line contracts for the Blåfalli-Gismarvik project, will be responsible for the assembly.
The aim of the Blåfalli-Gismarvik project, first mooted in 2015, is to ensure supply for the expected future growth of industrial demand in the Haugalandet district, located to the north of Stavanger on Norway’s western coast.
The work for the approximately 90km transmission line also includes expansion of the Blåfalli substation and a new transformer station at Gismarvik.
