Storåne (Hallingdalselva), Hovet, Norway

Hallingdalselva ( en, Hallingdal River) is a river which flows through the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

and traditional district of

Hallingdal Hallingdal ( en, Halling Valley) is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. ...

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Ha ...

County,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. Within the valley, the river is often referred to as the Great River (''Storåne''). Hallingdal River rises from within the

Hardangervidda Hardangervidda ( en, Hardanger Plateau) is a mountain plateau (Norwegian: ''vidde'') in central southern Norway, covering parts of Vestland, Vestfold og Telemark, and Viken counties. It is the largest plateau of its kind in Europe, with a cold ye ...

mountain plateau. Hallingdal River is formed by the confluence of the Usta River which flows from Lake

Ustevatn Ustevatn is a lake in the municipality of Hol in Viken (county), Viken county, Norway. The main inflow is on the west side of the lake provided by Ustekveikja, which originates from the area around Finse in Hordaland. Norwegian National Road 7 ru ...

and the Holselva River from Lake

Strandavatnet Strandavatnet is a lake in Hol municipality, Norway. The lake covers an area of , and lies above sea level.' The lake is a reservoir for the Rud hydroelectric powerstation in Hovet, Buskerud. In 1952/1953 a dam was constructed which lifted the lak ...

. Hallingdal River flows from the north into Lake Krøderen (''Krøderfjorden'') at

Gulsvik Gulsvik is a village in the municipality of Flå in Buskerud, Norway. It is located in Hallingdal at the north end of Lake Krøderen. The center of the village lies at Gulsvik Rail Station. Bergensbanen railway terminated at Gulsvik Station fr ...

. Lake Krøderen discharges via the

Snarumselva Snarumselva is a river in Buskerud county (now merged with Viken county), Norway. It flows north to south from Krøderen, a lake in Krødsherad municipality, to Geithus, a village in Modum municipality, where it joins the Drammenselva river. The to ...

(Snamum river) at the south end of the lake. A number of rivers flow into the Hallingdal River including the

Votna Votna is a lake in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies about straight east of the village of Røldal. The European route E134 highway runs along the northern part of the lake. There is a dam on the southwest en ...

, Lya, Hemsil, Todøla and Rukkedøla. Hallingdal River has a total length of and a catchment area of . The river falls in its journey to Krøderen, which is above sea-level. There are many hydro-electric power stations in the valley with an annual power production of about 4 TWh. The whole river system is now almost fully developed with a total of 13 power plants. The largest plants are Hol I-III (275 MW), Nes (250 MW), Usta (184 MW) and Hemsil I-II (152 MW). The total average annual production is approximately 4143 GWh. Most of the waterfall rights are owned by

E-CO Energi E-CO Energi is a Norwegian power company and after Statkraft the second largest producer of electricity in Norway. Structure E-CO is wholly owned by the City of Oslo. Operations are divided into E-CO Vannkraft, E-CO Norne and Oslo Lysverker. E ...

References

External links

Fishing in the Hallingdal River
Rivers of Viken Rivers of Norway {{Norway-river-stub