Rjukan has a long history of agricultural innovation, but up until 2013, its residents spent half the year in the dark.
- Historic Rjukan is located just west of Oslo in Norway.
- The town spends half the year in a perpetual shadow cast by a mountain range and the low-lying sun.
- A system of mirrors installed in 2013 deflects sunlight down onto the town square so locals and visitors can feel the warmth down in the valley all year.
Just two and a half hours west of Oslo in Norway lies an historic industrialized town called Rjukan. The town has a long history of agricultural innovation, but up until 2013, its residents spent half the year in the dark.
Rjukan sits in a valley running from east to west. Because of the towering heights of the flanking mountains, and the low placement of the sun in the winter, the town sits in a complete shadow all winter long.
That is until a century-old idea for a sun deflector was finally realized in February of 2013.
Rjukan is the business center of the Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway.
It lies between two mountains in an east-west valley, alongside a number of rivers and lakes. Notice how the sun is shining, but Rjukan is in the shadow.
Gaustatoppen — the mountain that serves as a backdrop for the town — is the highest mountain in Telemark. It sits more than 6,000 feet above sea level.
Because of the direction of the mountains and the height of the winter sun, Rjukan gets no direct sunlight for six months of the year, making it one of the darkest towns in the world.
In the early 1900s, entrepreneur Sam Eyde bought the Rjukanfossen waterfall in and built a hydroelectric power plant called Vemork, named for the town where it was located.
Source: BBC
Vemork lies just outside the town of Rjukan, which was built between 1905 and 1916 as town to house the workers employed at the power plant.
The Norsk Hydro Company sparked the growth of the industrial agriculture industry in Norway.
Source: UNESCO
The construction of hydroelectric plant spurred industrial growth in the area. Some of these factories produced artificial fertilizer to meet the world's demand during an agricultural boom in the early 20th century, according to UNESCO.
During World War II, Germany took advantage of the natural resources in the area and set up shop working on Hitler's nuclear program. The Vemork plant was being used to produce heavy water, which was exactly what the Germans needed to make a successful atomic bomb.
Source: National Geographic and VisitNorway.com
A group of Norwegians were able to penetrate the security around the plant and demolish the heavy water production room before the Germans could make an atomic bomb.
Source: Smithsonian
Workers in Rjukan had access to housing and social institutions, all of which were within reach of the industrial sites.
Source: UNESCO
A network of railways ...
Source: UNESCO
... and ferries connects Rjukan to ports where the fertilizer was loaded.
Source: UNESCO
In the summer it looks fairly easy to get around on the ground.
In the winter, though, the snow definitely comes down hard.
It gets so cold that the grass freezes. And there's no sunlight to thaw it.
Factory managers were concerned about their staff not getting enough sun.
Source: BBC
Eyde had entertained the idea of installing mountaintop mirrors back in 1913 but he didn't have the technology to make the system a reality.
Source: The Guardian
Instead, his company Norsk Hydro financed the Krossobanen in 1928 — the first cable car built in Northern Europe. It was designed to take valley-dwellers up to the foot of Hardangervidda, Norway's largest national park, where they'd be able to feel the sun on their faces.
Source: USA Today and The Guardian
Then, in October 2013, the century-old idea came to fruition. The town constructed a system of mirrors to deflect the sunlight down into the community.
Martin Andersen is the artist behind the mirrors. He works and lives in Rjukan with his family, and like many other locals, he grew tired of having to leave town to feel the sun. "We'd look up and see blue sky above, and the sun high on the mountain slopes, but the only way we could get to it was to go out of town. The brighter the day, the darker it was down here ..." he told The Guardian.
Source: The Guardian
The mechanism consists of three 183-square-foot mirrors, solar panels, and sensors called heliostats.
Heliostats are powered by solar and wind energy. They track the sun and allow the mirrors to follow in the sun's path, deflecting sunlight as it moves throughout the day.
This breakdown shows how the mirrors bring sunlight down to a total area spanning 600 square meters from 450 meters above Rjukan's market square. You can see the shadow Mount Gaustatoppen casts on the valley from September to March.
Source: Reuters
The entire system cost $825,000 to build, and stands at around the same size as a two-car garage.
Source: Business Insider
The day the mirrors were installed was like a giant party. That ball of light in the top of the photo is not the sun peeking over the mountain — it's actually the work of the mirrors.
Locals came out to play volleyball ...
... and people were laid out on chaise lounges snapping photos of the view.
And sunglasses and reflective discs were popular accessories.
A number of locals thought it was unnecessary to build the mirrors because the Krossobanen brought them high enough on the mountain to feel the sun.
But many are now able to see the positive impact it had on tourism.
Some still denounce it as a gimmicky tourist attraction, though.
Nils Eggerud, a since-retired Norsk Hydro employee, told The Guardian he thought the money could have been invested in more caretakers for Rjukan's elderly, improved school facilities, bike paths, or rural road resurfacing. He was also worried about the cost of upkeep.
Source: The Guardian
Ultimately, he does appreciate seeing the sunlight up close and personal: "It does feel nice, standing here. And really, you just have to look at the people's faces."
Source: The Guardian
The mirrors do serve a purpose that's in everyone's best interest: They actually work to help fight seasonal depression during the winter.
You can find locals coming out to bask in the rays, even if only for a few minutes.
Although it may seem like the system drenches the whole town center in light ...
... it really just reflects the light to one spot in the middle of town, so it's not a complete fix.
Here you can really see its spotlight effect on the city.
Even though they don't feel the sun on their faces all the time, the people of Rjukan can still enjoy many of the same activities as those who do.
They ski ...
... snowshoe ...
... ice climb ...
... bike ...
... hike ...
... participate in different water activities ...
... and visit or help out on vast farms.
The hike up Mount Gaustatoppen ascends more than 1,400 feet, according to Rjukan's tourism website.
Source: Visit Rjukan
As the municipality's main hub for business, the workforce — with employees ranging in age from 15 to 74 years old — was 2,669 people strong as of the fourth quarter in 2017.
Source: Statistics Norway
The number one occupation in the area is service and sales.
Source: Statistics Norway
Followed by "professionals," technicians, associate professionals, and armed forces. The streets are lined with local banks, schools, and storefronts.
Source: Statistics Norway
Although businesses and social infrastructures have been around since Rjukan's founding, the mirrors have brought light, sunshine, and Vitamin D down to the faces of it's working townspeopel.
Source: Statistics Norway
Tags:
Ghana News