Statkraft has applied to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) for permission to construct a new Nore I power plant at Rødberg in Nore and Uvdal municipality in accordance with the Norwegian Energy Act.
The reason for the application is to ensure further production of around 1,200 GWh/year of clean energy, which corresponds to the annual power consumption of around 60,000 homes.
The existing Nore I power plant is from 1928 and the ageing power plant building is in poor condition. Building a new power plant is considered to be a better alternative to renovation and continuing to operate in the existing building.
Building in the mountain
According to the plans, the new power plant will be built into the mountain behind the existing power plant building and the access door will be located east of the current power plant. The power plant will have a new underwater tail flow in the Rødberg dam instead of the current eight tail flows at water level.
The new power plant will increase production by around 80 GWh, mainly due to some higher heads in the new power plant, better efficiency in modern machines, as well as some reclaimed flood loss from the Tunhovdfjorden lake. In total, new production is estimated at approx. 1,280 GWh/year.
Can be commissioned in 2019
The construction period is tentatively scheduled between 2016 and 2019 and the new power plant will be commissioned during the course of 2019. The investment cost is estimated as approx. NOK 1 billion.
The existing Nore I power plant will operate as today until a new power plant is ready. At a later time Statkraft will establish a dedicated project that will look more closely at preserving and using the existing power plant building and the future of this.