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The landowner has been utilising the waterfall in the lower part of the river for centuries. Here, there have been sawmills, planing machines, mill houses and seed cleaning plants that have all been powered by the waterfall. This area also had one of the earliest power plants in Valdres. Already in 1909, the farm Olmhus built a small direct current plant here. This was later replaced by a larger power plant in 1917, and the other two waterfall owners, Nordre and Søndre Fønhus joined the development. This was an alternating current plant that produced 30 kW. It had enough power for nearly the entire village at first. The plant was in operation until 1976. By then, the turbine was completely worn out and the waterfall owners did not find it profitable to invest in a new turbine. Also, the plant did not produce enough electricity for the needs of the three properties.
In the early 1980s, the waterfall owners began pursuing plans to build a new power plant.
Several options were explored and later discarded. In 2005, the interest in a project gained momentum. The waterfall owners developed a new, alternative project. Despite the fact that Hølera is protected, we received a decision from the NVE for an exemption, with a licence and the go-ahead for development in 2008. The argument in favour of the exemption was that a power plant had already been in place there earlier.
In 2012, the waterfall owners entered into an agreement with Norsk Grønnkraft and established Hølera Kraft AS. The Gladhaug farm and Sør-Aurdal municipality also joined with their waterfall rights. The plant was completed in 2013 and was later acquired by Småkraft.
