The production increase is equivalent to the average consumption of 3,700 households in Norway.

“This news is most welcome, and a good example of the opportunities inherent in utilizing hydroelectric power resources in developed areas even better,” says  Executive Vice President Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, head of Hydro’s energy operations.

The plans to use water from the Holsbruvatn lake for power production at the Tyin station represent one of several projects in Hydro’s program to extract more capacity from existing plants and regulated water systems. The plans mainly concern plants in Sogn and Røldal/Suldal.

Part of a bigger plan

“An expansion at Holsbru will be a small but important step towards the achievement of our goal in Hydro of increasing power production by 0.5-1 TWh. We will do this partly by building new power and pump stations, and partly by speeding up the replacement of turbine runners and associated equipment that will result in greater efficiency,” explains Rostrup.

Hydro was awarded a licence to build the new Tyin power station in 2001, a project that was implemented and completed in 2004 to establish what is currently Hydro’s most modern hydroelectric power station.

By exploiting the catchment area of the old Tyin power station even better, and with the help of new transmissions, Hydro saw  that it was possible to increase power production from the same water system resources. An expansion of Holsbru will raise the total hydroelectric production from Tyin to more than 1.6 TWh.

Emphasis on renewable energy

“This project will provide access to new production and is an important contribution to the government's concentration on more renewable energy. At the same time the project clearly exemplifies the opportunities available for obtaining more production in areas that have already been developed,” states Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Riis-Johansen in a press release.

”It’s good that the Norwegian authorities are helping to release the potential for the more efficient utilization of renewable hydroelectric power,” says Rostrup.