<- ->

Smyrlabjargaa Power Plant

Region: South Iceland
Coordinates: 64.331951° N 15.612484° W

River Smyrlabjargaa runs through County Sudursveit. It mostly collects run off water, but also carries some glacial meltwater from the glacier snout Heinabergsjokull. This snout retreated fast during the second half of the 20th century, and the plans for the construction of a hydroelectric power station in the sixties were postponed. It was considered necessary to carry out a more detailed research of the volume delivered over a longer period of time before costly enterprises were started.

Construction commenced in 1968

In 1956 a Czech company was contracted to provide the generators for four power stations on rivers Grimsa, Mjolka, Fossa, and Smyrlabjargaa. During the research period, the reserve, diesel generation of electricity was increased in the town Hofn. The power plant was built near Farm Smyrlabjorg. The construction work commenced in 1968. Several disruptions delayed the process, but eventually the power station was inaugurated on October 3rd 1969. The original capacity was 1,000 kW, but the enlargement of a dam and other measures increased it to 1,200 kW. Later it was increased to 1,485 kW. In 1974 new reservoirs were added to stabilize the operation of the power plant.

Smyrlabjargaa pover plant in Icelandic

Photo Credit: Orkusalan.is