The Hálslón Reservoir () is a storage

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

in Eastern

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

on the

Jökulsá á Dal Jökulsá á Dal, () also called Jökulsá á Brú or Jökla, is a river in the northeast of Iceland. Of its original length of 150 km (making it the longest river in Iceland's Eastern Region (Iceland), Eastern Region), 25 km are now ...

River. The reservoir stores water for use in

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

production with the

Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant ( is, Kárahnjúkavirkjun ), officially called Fljótsdalur Power Station ( is, Fljótsdalsstöð ) is a hydroelectric power plant in Fljótsdalshérað municipality in eastern Iceland, designed to produce annuall ...

. The reservoir was formed by three different

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

-faced, rock-filled

embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

s: the Kárahnjúkastífla Dam, the Desjarárstífla Dam and the Sauðárdalsstífla Dam .

Dams

The Kárahnjúkastífla Dam is 193m tall, 730m long and straddles the river. It is made of 8.5 million cubic meters of material, making it the largest dam of its type in Europe. Construction on the dam began in April 2003 and was completed in November 2006. The Kárahnjúkastífla Dam does not create the reservoir alone, as the dam is higher in elevation than the two valleys that flank the river valley. To create the desired level, auxiliary or saddle dams were built. The 60m tall and 1,000m long Desjarárstífla Dam is adjacent and to the east of the Kárahnjúkastífla Dam. The Sauðárdalsstífla Dam is 4 km to the southwest, 25m tall and 1,100m long. Both auxiliary dams were built between April 2004 and October 2006. The reservoir began to fill in September 2006.Key Figures of the Kárahnjúkar Hydroelectric Project
The Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Project Overview
Water used for hydroelectricity production in the reservoir is discharged in the

Jökulsá í Fljótsdal Jökulsá (literally ''glacier river'') is the name of several rivers in Iceland. * Jökulsá á Dal, also known as ''Jökulsá á Brú'' or ''Jökla'' * Jökulsá á Fjöllum, the second longest river in Iceland * Jökulsá á Breiðamerkursandi * ...

river to the northeast.

Conservation

In January 2005, the

Icelandic parliament The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembl ...

voted to give a large area around the dam park status, thereby protecting it. The area covers one-tenth of Iceland's surface area.Giant dam and smelter boost economy and raise tensions in Iceland
/ref>

References

External links

Hálslón Reservoir and DamsKárahnjúkar HEP - Landsvirkjun - September 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halslon Reservoir Lakes of Iceland