Statkraft said the bypass valve would help to secure downstream flows for fish life should there be another generation outage that prevents normal discharge and flows.
In August 2005 a transformer at the plant caused an outage due to high temperatures, which stopped flows through the hydro plant for an hour and a half, and therefore reduced the downstream levels in the river Surna.
The company was fined NOK1.5M (US$242,128) for the incident and, in addition, NOK2M (US$322,949 of its profits were confiscated. In a statement, Statkraft said that rather than contest the verdict and fine it would use its funds to focus on the remedial works – the bypass valve and generator.
An application is being made for a supplementary licence to install the supplementary, smaller generator at the 39-year old plant to help generate electricity more efficiently in low flow conditions.
