ABSTRACT

In 1919, the Suorva Dam on the upper reaches of the Lule river created Sweden’s first large storage reservoir. Its purpose was to regulate the flow into Porjus, the country’s first hydro dam, which had been built five years earlier. Suorva wiped out the magnificent Stora Sjöfallet (the Great Waterfall), the scenic outlet of lake Akkajaure and part of a national park. A biologically rich Arctic valley that had sustained both Sami and Swedish settler communities for generations was devastated by the reservoir. The scar on the landscape remains to this day. This short-sighted decision is still considered to be one of the great political scandals in the history of Swedish nature conservation. The agency responsible for the harnessing of the Lule river at Suorva and at hundreds of other sites around the country was the Royal Board of Hydro Power (Statens Vattenfallsverk), today known as Vattenfall. Statens Vattenfallsverk was founded in 1909 for the purpose of exploiting the hydro-power potential of the largely state-owned rivers. During its first decades of operation, a handful of power stations were built, such as Porjus in the Lule river, Trollhättan in the Göta, and Älvkarleby in the Dal. With time Vattenfall became the dominant actor on the Swedish electricity market with strong interests also in the nuclear

power industry. Today, through its hydro and nuclear facilities, Vattenfall produces nearly 50 per cent of the total electricity in Sweden. The other hydropower plants in Sweden are owned principally by municipal energy companies and large pulp and paper manufacturers. Hydro contributes roughly half the electricity produced in Sweden today, while the other half is produced by nuclear power. An increasing share of electricity is generated by industries and in heating plants. In total, electricity represents one-third of the total energy supply Thus, the rivers provide approximately one-sixth of the total energy supply in Sweden. After a century of heavy exploitation, some 70 per cent of the energy production potential of Swedish rivers has been harnessed by 140 large dams (over 15 metres) and hundreds of smaller ones.