Rjukan is a city where people live in complete darkness for six months

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The lack of sunlight in winter has a pernicious effect on the well-being of residents, especially in those settlements where winters are long, cold and cloudy. However, the inhabitants of the Norwegian town of Rjukan are not at all envied: this place is completely cut off from the sun for more than six months every year. Being in a valley between the mountains, from September to March, Rjukan plunges into darkness, and only in the last five years have they managed to "shed a ray of light" in this seemingly insoluble situation …

Ryukan (Rjukan) is located in Telemark county, with a little over 3,300 inhabitants, and their homes are located in a small valley at the foot of Mount Gaustatoppen. It is an industrial city that was formed here during the construction of a hydroelectric power station at the Rjukanfossen waterfall. Workstations, as well as a plant for the production of saltpeter, settled here, and the town could well be the most luxurious city that could attract new residents, if not for one big "but": more than half a year in Rjukan, there is absolutely no light from the sun.

At one time, the organizer of the power plant, Sam Eide, proposed installing mirrors on the top of the mountain so that they reflect sunlight into the valley, but then, a hundred years ago, such an idea was technically impossible to implement. All engineers could then do was build cable car, which would lift several residents in a small trailer 500 meters up into the mountains, where the rays of the sun reached for several hours a day. This cable car is still in operation, but a lot has changed over a hundred years, and a few years ago, one of the residents of Rjukan again turned to the idea of using mirrors.

Martin Andersen, himself living in Rjukan, in 2005 began his research into the possibility of installing such mirrors. He studied how Arizona uses mini-mirrors for their local stadium to ensure that grass grows evenly on the pitch; studied the operation of the heliostat, as well as how this technology has been improved today for use in converting the evaporation of water into electricity; and most importantly, he studied the experience of another settlement faced with a similar problem.

We are talking about the Italian village of Viganella, which is home to just under 200 people and which are cut off from the sun for three months a year. In 2006, a huge mirror was installed at the top of the mountain in this village, which followed the rays of the sun and directed the reflection of light onto the square in front of the city hall. Martin Andersen decided that the same approach to solving the problem would help Rjukan.

It was possible to organize the installation of mirrors in Rjukan in 2013. At the top of the mountain, three huge mirrors were installed at once, which change their position every 10 seconds, following the rays of the sun. The reflected light illuminates approximately 600 square meters, which completely covers the central area of the town. Funds for the implementation of this project were allocated by the company that founded the hydroelectric power plant. So now the residents of Rjukan have the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine in winter, not only after traveling up the mountains, but also without leaving their hometown.

But what is clearly visible from Rjukan in winter is the northern lights. Photos of this natural phenomenon look like some kind of incredible fairy tale, and we have collected the best pictures in our selection. Northern lights of Norway: magic in every shot