Two concrete trucks wind their way up the construction road to Svartevatndammen, 800 meters above sea level in the mountain area of Stølsheimen in Nordhordland. The dam on the border between Masfjorden and Modalen has for decades stored water which is then sent down into the turbines in the Vemundsbotn power plant. But the weather and climate have changed, and dams that were strong enough are now considered unsafe. – We are giving this pond away in exchange for twice as thick. It comes from 40 centimeters to one meter of extra concrete. This explains project manager Håvard Fosse in Eviny. His company alone has 42 dams that need strengthening. In addition to thicker walls, the dam will have a system that allows water to be discharged more quickly from the reservoir during large floods. Håvard Fosse is the project manager for the improvement of the Svartavat dam. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news Requirements from NVE In 2021, NVE mapped all Norwegian dams. They determined that 625 of them are vulnerable to a changing climate. – Most dams in Norway are over 60 years old. They are not adapted to the new climate or new regulations. Lars Grøttå says so. He is section manager for the dam inspectorate in NVE. The dams must be assessed every 15 years. It is up to each individual power company to get approved measures on the dams they own. NVE has classified the dams in Norway into five categories. In class 0, there is little risk of damage if the dam breaks. In class 4 there is a danger to human life if something goes wrong. There are 225 dams in the country in this class. These have received particularly strict requirements from NVE. Work at the Svartavat dam. Photo: Benjamin Dyrdal / news The electricity bill will not be higher. The Svartevat dam is in class 4, and is one of many dams that the company Eviny now has to improve. The work up here will take two years, and will cost around NOK 60 million. CEO Ragnhild Janbu Fresvik says the company must spend around NOK 1 billion on climate upgrading the dams they own. – We pay for this ourselves. It will not be charged to people’s electricity bills. Eviny hopes it will take many decades before they need to upgrade the dam up here again. The Black Sea Dam will now have to bear the load from a flood that is one and a half times as large as what is considered a thousand-year flood today. CEO Ragnhild Janbu Fresvik in Eviny. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news
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Dams climate outsourced for billions – news Vestland
