KVILLDAL POWER STATION (VG) Here, deep in the mountains, the traditional Norwegian silver – water from the mountains – is transformed into liquid gold.
Because at today’s high electricity prices, you can almost call it that.
The Kvilldal power station is Norway’s largest and when all four cells here are working at full capacity, the facility can produce 1,240 megawatts.
VG let in the facility to see how the current that everyone is talking about is made.
2-3 percent increases
– Next year, all four suites will be newly renovated, and then we will increase the performance level. We can produce approx. 75 GWh extra in a normal year, says Bjørn Sandvik, power plant manager for the Ulla-Førre plants.
A gigawatt hour (GWh) is 1,000,000 kilowatt hours (kWh). The rehabilitation, which started three years ago, will have 750,000 panel ovens running for 100 hours per kilowatt.
This can come in handy when the cold creeps in in October.
– Rehabilitation increases productivity by two to three percent. Half the turbine is improved technology and the rest is wear and tear and loss of capacity that disappears when we renew the plant, says Sandvik.
He apologizes for the mess in the middle of the huge machine hall.
– Normally it’s perfectly clean and tidy, but now there are a lot of parts here for a major rehab of a unit. But Sandvik smiles that there is order in the chaos.
In operation for 40 years
Kvilldal power station was opened 40 years ago by King Olav, whose signature is also on a plaque fixed to the rock face. No wonder the power plant needs a “total makeover” after half a lifetime.
– Kvilldal is part of the Ulla-Førre system, with Blåsjø above. When Blåsjø is full – unfortunately it isn’t now – Sandvik says there’s enough energy to supply Stavanger for four years without rain.
Blåsjø is Western Europe’s largest hydroelectric reservoir, measured in terms of energy content, and spans the three municipalities of Rogaland and Aktor. It has been 20 years since the last time Little water At this time of year in Blåsjø.
– The amount of filling is unusually low, says Bjorn Sandvik.
But “Mr. Blåsjø” does not make predictions for winter.
– Fortunately, everyone’s motivation – Stadtcraft and everyone else – is to have water when it’s needed most. It is normal in winter and spring. Sandvik concludes that the main focus of everyone working on how to dispose of water is to do it in the best way for ourselves and society.
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