The Meeting of Representatives on the Regulation of Lake Inari was Held in Finland

The meeting of representatives from Russia, Finland, and Norway on the co-regulation of Lake Inari water regime was held on 14 February 2018 in Rovaniemi. Russia was represented by Gennady Semenov, Deputy General Director for Marketing and Sales, and Stanislav Nazarov, Director of the Kolsky Branch of TGC-1.

At the meeting, a Protocol for Water Regime Regulation of Lake Inari for the first half of 2018 was signed, and an Admission Programme up to 30 June 2018 with an account of HPPs maintenance was approved.

"Such meetings have been held since 1959 and they are still essential. Climate change, the necessity of power sites repairing, and development of power infrastructure on the border areas require constant coordination. Our longstanding successful partnership and mutual understanding are based on one aim: to preserve the eco-surroundings of Lake Inari and to minimise the impact on its ecosystem," says Gennady Semenov.

Lake Inari is located on the territory of Finland and considered the single water-storage basin for Russian and Norwegian HPPs constructed on the Paz river.

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 on the Paz river, flowing out of the lake and passing through the territory of Finland, Russia, and Norway.

The river has seven hydroelectric power plants, five of them are combined into the Paz HPPs Cascade of TGC-1 and the rest two are the part of Norwegian energy industry.