Russia, Norway and Finland Discussed Lake Inari Water Management

January 25-26, 2016 – a scheduled meeting of Russian and Norwegian power specialists was held in Norway to discuss lake Inari water management. Alexander Novikov, the Chief Engineer of the Kolskiy Branch, Oleg Tyapinov, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Kolskiy Branch and Evgeny Kotov, the Chief Engineer of the Paz HPPs Cascade, represented PJSC TGC-1.

Lake Inari is the third largest basin in Finland and the second largest lake in the world, entirely located within the Arctic Circle. Its resources are used by Russian and Norwegian HPPs.

— The key goal of our international long-term cooperation is to take care of the region's environment and preserve the flora and fauna of the lake. We promptly exchange information to arrange the optimal operating modes of hydropower plants, monitoring water level of Lake Inari and Paz River and the climate changes, as well as check the relevant influence on water inflow and consumption, Alexander Novikov said. — Scheduled meetings allow energy specialists and environmental experts to continuously improve supervision over this water reservoir, which in turn will have a positive impact on biodiversity.

The results of the meeting will be declared in the Minutes to be signed by the authorized representatives of three countries in St. Petersburg on February 14-16, 2017. The tripartite agreement has been effective since 1959. It contributes to the sustainable use of water resources, energy capacity and maintenance of favourable environmental conditions.

Reference

The trilateral agreement on lake Inari water management by means of Kaitakoski HPP was signed in 1959 between the governments of the USSR, Norway and Finland. The subject of the agreement was water level control in lake Inari, located on the territory of Finland, and in Paz River, flowing out of the lake and passing through the territory of Finland, Russia and Norway.

The river has seven hydro power plants, five of them are combined into the Paz HPPs Cascade of PJSC TGC-1 and the rest two are a part of the energy complex of Norway.