Sauland kraftverk AS will be the owner and will be responsible for the development if the government grants the licence to use the Hjartdøla and Skogsåa watercourses for the development of Sauland Power Plant.

Local ownership

Energy Director Finn Werner Bekken of Skagerak Kraft is pleased to have Hjartdal municipality and local landowners on board as co-owners.

'I am very pleased that Sauland Power Plant will have a strong local anchoring. Local involvement is extremely important to the success of our development plans,' he says.

Finn Werner Bekken will be chair of the board for Sauland Power Plant. The other board members will come from Hjartdal municipality, Notodden Energi AS, Tinfos AS and Skagerak. As soon as the waterfall owners join the company, they will also have the opportunity to select a board member. Project Manager Bjarte Guddal of Sauland Power Plant will assume the role of managing director. 

Important to Hjartdal and society at large

Mayor Sven Tore Løkslid emphasises the significance of having the municipality on board as an owner and participant in the value creation. Together with ten local landowners, the municipality ensures that a significant portion of the company will be in local hands.

'The municipality’s co-ownership of Sauland Power Plant is an important reason why we can wholeheartedly support this development. Sauland Power Plant will be important to the value creation in Hjartdal municipality as well as in society at large,' he concludes.

Awaiting decision in November

The licence application for Sauland Power Plant was sent to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) in the autumn of 2009. With the establishment of Sauland kraftverk AS, the work is entering a new phase.

'We have received indications that the NVE will have a recommendation in place by 1 November this year. The fact that we have now established the company shows that we expect a positive recommendation from the NVE, and eventually a positive decision from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy,' says Bekken.

Starting on the design

'Planning and developing a power plant the size of Sauland takes a long time. We started the work back in 2005, and it will not be possible to complete the power plant before 2016 at the very earliest. A lot of work must be done in parallel to ensure good progress, and we are therefore in the process of looking at the design for the station and waterways,' says Bekken.

Dedicated web pages

At the same time as the company was established, Sauland Power Plant also launched its logo and dedicated web pages with associated graphic profile. Up to this point, information on the development plans has been available on Skagerak’s web pages. From now on, all information about the company will be found at www.saulandkraftverk.no. The profile and design of the web pages was created by the Notodden-based advertisement agency BrandingBox.

 

Facts:

Ownership shares:
Skagerak Kraft 70.7%*
Notodden Energi/Tinfos 16.2%
Hjartdal municipality 10% (option)*
Local waterfall owners approx. 3.1%
*The municipality has a right to increase its ownership share to approx. 17.1%.

Technical data*:
Annual production: 218 GWh (10,900 households)
Installed output: 76 MW
Tunnels: 28  km
Cost: NOK 982 mill.
Construction time: 2.5 years
*All figures are tentative