KIP's environmental monitoring infrastructure expands

Environmental issues play a key role in the Kokkola Industrial Park (KIP). More specific environmental targets require a constant search for new ways to monitor the state of the environment and changes therein. Continuous monitoring is becoming increasingly common in environmental measurements and requires infrastructure upgrades in the KIP area to implement new types of measurement networks.

– The new measurement network enables wireless and cost-effective data transfer for environmental measurements throughout the KIP area and its surroundings. Environmental measurement data can be collected in one place, which makes it possible to identify various dependencies and possibly also to develop predictive models based on the collected data, explains project manager Timo Hongell.

The comprehensive smart environmental monitoring project for the industrial area (TAKOMO) consists of two separate projects, one of which is an investment project that enables the development of comprehensive infrastructure specifically for the KIP area. In close cooperation with organizations in the industrial area, measurement networks have been designed and are already being implemented by building LoRaWAN base stations around the KIP area.

You can follow the development of the infrastructure on the LoRaWAN base stations case pages.

– We have discussed with several operators in the KIP area and identified which environmental measurements are most interesting from the perspective of the industrial area. Noise and weather measurements were particularly highlighted, says project coordinator Mira Hästbacka.

The TAKOMO project itself focuses on developing various environmental measurements in and around the industrial area based on the existing measurement network. In the early stages of the project, the environmental measurement needs of operators in the KIP area were mapped out, including noise, groundwater, weather conditions, and air quality. You can read more about the measurement needs here.

– The aim of the measurements is to build a comprehensive environmental measurement infrastructure that will make it easy to compile the measurements taken jointly in the area into a single view, Hongell continues.