River Smyrlabjargaa runs through County
Sudursveit. It mostly collects run off water, but also carries some
glacial meltwater from the glacier snout Heinabergsjokull. This snout
retreated fast during the second half of the 20th century,
and the plans for the construction of a hydroelectric power station in
the sixties were postponed. It was considered necessary to carry out a
more detailed research of the volume delivered over a longer period of
time before costly enterprises were started.
In 1956 a Czech company was contracted to provide
the generators for four power stations on rivers Grimsa, Mjolka, Fossa,
and Smyrlabjargaa. During the research period, the reserve, diesel
generation of electricity was increased in the town Hofn. The power
plant was built near Farm Smyrlabjorg. The construction work commenced in 1968.
Several disruptions delayed the process, but eventually the
power station was inaugurated on October 3rd 1969.
The original capacity was 1,000 kW, but the enlargement of a dam and
other measures increased it to 1,200 kW. Later it was increased to
1,485 kW. In 1974 new reservoirs were added to stabilize the operation
of the power plant.
Source: The State Energy Company.
Part of Vatnajokull