Dam safety at the Kelukoski power plant is being reinforced – Kreate is building a new dam gate under demanding conditions

Kreate has signed an agreement with Kemijoki Oy to build a new floodgate at the Kelukoski power plant in Sodankylä. The goal of the project is to improve the safety of the power plant.

The agreement signed by Kreate and Kemijoki Oy will launch construction work on a new floodgate for the embankment dam at the Kelukoski power plant in April 2026. The project will improve the dam safety and bypass capacity of the Kelukoski power plant.

“This is a major project aimed at improving dam safety and, at the same time, one of the most technically demanding projects of its kind; the last such project under similar conditions was carried out over 20 years ago. At Kelukoski, we work alongside flowing water in a challenging environment where every step of the process requires a high level of expertise,” says Timo Vikström, CEO of Kreate Group.

The Kelukoski power plant, completed in 2001, is in Sodankylä. It is the newest of the seven power plants located on the Kitinen, a tributary of the Kemijoki River. The power plant complex includes six earthen dams with a combined length of 3,913 meters, one 58-meter-long concrete dam, and one spillway.

“Our task is to build a new spillway, complete with floodgates, next to the existing spillway, along with a bridge spanning it. It looks almost identical, even though we’re using a slightly different technique,” Vikström says.

Several techniques are used in the construction of a floodgate

Kreate is carrying out the project in collaboration with its joint venture, KFS Finland, which specialises in special foundation construction. Both have extensive experience with similar projects. As part of the Kimola canal project in Kouvola, Kreate transformed a log-floating channel into a unique waterway for boaters. KFS Finland, for its part, constructed Finland’s deepest drilled pile wall—and, at the same time, the first drilled pile wall built on a clay embankment—at the Melo power plant in Nokia.

“During the construction of the Kimola canal, we built concrete structures for the sluice gates and other components to extremely tight dimensional tolerances, and we carried out complex excavation and concrete work against the rock face. At the Melo embankment dam, we managed to control the excessive seepage using the drilled pile technique. We plan to apply similar techniques and leverage our expertise in the Kelukoski project as well,” says Tomi Pyökeri, site manager at Kreate.

In addition to the permanent drilled pile walls to be constructed on the embankment, a temporary drilled pile wall will be built on the Kitinen site as part of the Kelukoski project.

“We are also building a temporary dam on the downstream side using earth fill so that we can construct the new spillway using dry construction methods. One of the largest structures of its kind was the Kruunuvuori bridge in Helsinki, where the caissons were six meters high and about the size of a 200-square-meter house. The bridge’s support pillars were constructed using dry construction methods up to six meters below the water’s surface,” Pyökeri explains.

“Although the project is technically demanding, I also see Sodankylä’s cold winters as a challenge for construction. The construction period is significantly shorter than in southern Finland, where construction usually continues throughout the winter,” Pyökeri adds.

Kreate will begin preparatory work at the Kelukoski power plant site in April and construction work in June 2026. The project is expected to be completed in September 2027. Kreate will record the order in its first-quarter order book.

Pictures: Kemijoki Oy