The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is to loan Norwegian power company Helgeland Kraft AS NOK 470 million (EUR 49.5 million) to fund six hydropower plants in Nordland County.
The finance will be used to complete five new hydropower plants in the Tosbotn project in the municipality of Brønnøy, with a proportion used for the Øvre Forsland power plant, which is the last of four hydropower plants built at the river Forslandselva in Leirfjord municipality in Helgeland
The new Tosbotn hydropower plants - which will have a total annual production of 133GWh - are Leiråa, Bjørnstokk, Tverråa, Storelva and Tosdalen.. Construction started in May 2014, and the plants are scheduled to start operations between April 2016 and September 2017.
The Øvre Forsland plant was commissioned in March 2015 and officially opened by the Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tord Lien in August 2015. It generates 33 GWh annually.
Helgeland Kraft AS has 12 hydroelectric power plants with an annual production of 1100 GWh. The utility is owned by 14 municipalities in the region of Helgeland in Nordland, where it distributes 6,000 GWh electricity to around 80,000 inhabitants through its 7,800 kilometer distribution network.
The plants will increase the security of supply in the region and increase the generation capacity by 166GWh to the Nasdaq (Nordpool) electricity pool.
