Tofte is a village in the

Asker Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...

municipality in

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is situated on the Hurum Peninsula on the

Oslo Fjord The Oslofjord (, ; ) is an inlet in southeastern Norway. The fjord begins at the small village of Bonn in Frogn Municipality and stretching northwards to the city of Oslo, and then curving to the east and then south again. It then flows south t ...

. It is the second largest settlement in

Hurum Hurum was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. As of 1 January 2020 Hurum has merged with the municipalities of Røyken and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality located in the newly formed Viken county. The administrative centre of th ...

. Before 1897, there were no densely populated areas on Tofte. At Sagene, a marble grinding mill was built by the Sagene River in the mid-1890s. In 1896, Anthon Bernhard Elias Nilsen (1855-1936) bought property with associated forest properties, with the intention of building a cellulose factory. The factory was built in 1897, and put into operation in 1899. In 1907, Anthon Nilsen also founded a cellulose factory at Sagene, a couple of kilometers southwest of the factory at Tofte. These two factories, Tofte Cellulosefabrik AS and Hurum Fabriker AS, became the center of employment during the following century. Tofte is now best known for Södra Cell Tofte, a cellulose factory which was the major industry in Tofte. Statkraft Hurum salt plant (''Statkraft Hurum saltkraftverk''), the world's first saline power plant based on osmosis, was opened by the energy company

Statkraft Statkraft AS is a hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is ac ...

during 2009. Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the plant. In May 2014,

and

Södra Södra Skogsägarna, trading as Södra, is a forestry cooperative based in Växjö, Sweden. More than 52,000 forest owners in southern Sweden are members of the economic association that is Södra. They own just over half of all privately owned f ...

signed a letter of intent under which Statkraft acquired Södra Cell Tofte. Statkraft subsequently formed Tofte Biomass Hub with the goal of establishing

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

production based on raw forest material. Maud at Tofte

In 2020,

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...

's historic ship ''Maud'' was being repaired outside Tofte, prior to being put on public display having been salvaged in Canada.

References

External links

Discover Tofte (Statkraft)
Villages in Asker Hurum {{Akershus-geo-stub