The developed area is located just above Tunnsjø centre and covers about 1 km of the river. The Havdalselva river has a small waterfall past the intake and dam. Below the dam, the river flows through a steep gorge with vertical rock walls on the north side and a sloping, mostly mountainous terrain on the south side. From the outlet at the power station, the river flows quite flat until it passes the border to Sweden about 1 km further down and onward into the Kvarnbergsvattnet lake.
The dam in Havdal is an arch dam, 8 metres in height. The length of the top of the dam is 40 metres. The penstock is buried throughout the entire 925 m pipe route. Even with a fairly large flood dampening reservoir, the flow of the Havdalselva river varies considerably throughout the year. To make the best possible use of the water, we decided, after consulting with Spetals Verk, to install two Francis generators of different sizes. This gives us the opportunity to make the best use of the water flow by using the smallest turbine during the winter and both turbines when the water is high.
Did you know that…
It took a very long time to process the paperwork for the Havdal power plant because the river flows into Sweden. This meant that both the Swedish government and the Nordic Council had to look at the case before the King-in-Council meeting. A final decision was made after six years.
“The Government’s goal is to achieve an environmentally friendly exploitation of the potential that lies in the construction of micro-, mini-, and small-scale power plants. This development will help meet the power needs and contribute to value creation in the district,” said Odd Roger Enoksen, the Minister of Petroleum and Energy at the time, after the Norwegian Government had given its final permission for the development of the Havdal power plant.