Hydro’s hydropower concession for the Møsvatn watercourse is under renewal, and flows in the Måna River were part of the deal. Newly created thresholds, or sills, of rock in the riverbed help back up the water flow along individual stretches of the river.

“This looks good,” Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, head of Hyro’s Energy business, said during a tour of the area. “The physical improvements and the fact that the solution was accomplished through constructive cooperation makes me happy. This is a ‘win-win-win’ situation.”

"That’s because it isn’t just Hydro and the community of Tinn that benefit, he says. “I dare say that this is a ‘win’ for the regulatory authorities as well. NVE (Norway’s river authority) gains from the other partners’ efforts.”

Good technical solution

A living river also means a secure minimum water flow. Rostrup adds that he is impressed by how the technical solution has been developed with understanding of the water, rock and landscape. Water flows can be limited without affecting the visual nature of the river course, he says.

The project brings life to the Måna River along important sections of the center of Rjukan, and the concession also calls for guaranteed flows over the scenic Rjukan Falls on certain days.

“Some of the improvements are aesthetic, while others are more biological in nature. These aim to allow the trout in Tinn Lake to reproduce,” explains Pål Thorud, head of Hydro’s hydropower operations in Telemark.