Town in Norwegian valley is set to get winter sunlight for the first time in its history… using giant MIRRORS

  • Industrial town of Rjukan gets no sunshine between September and March
  • Three giant mirrors or 'heliostats' have been set up on the mountainside
  • They will track the path of the sun and beam light onto the town square
  • Idea was first suggested 100 years ago but a cable car was built instead
  • A similar scheme has been successfully implemented in an Italian village

By Daniel Miller

Published: | Updated:

A gloomy Norwegian town will receive its first ever rays of winter sunshine this year after locals set up giant mirrors to bounce light down from the mountainside. 

The industrial town of Rjukan is nestled deep in a valley floor in the rugged Telemark county and with the sun moving low across the sky during winter, it gets no direct sunlight between the months of September and March.

For years the sun-starved locals have had to take a purpose-built cable car to the top of the mountain side in order to catch a few winter rays.

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Let there be light: The Norwegian town of Rjukan will receive its first ever rays of winter sunshine this year after locals set up giant mirrors to bounce light onto the town square

Let there be light: The Norwegian town of Rjukan will receive its first ever rays of winter sunshine this year after locals set up giant mirrors to bounce light onto the town square

The giant mirrors will be placed on the valley side to bounce the light down onto the town square

Beam: The giant mirrors will be placed on the valley side to bounce the light down onto the town square

But that is soon set to change as for the past few weeks, helicopters have been hoisting three huge mirrors into position some 450 metres above the town at the top of the valley sides.

Known as heliostats, they have been designed to track the movement of the sun and reflect the light down directly onto Rjukan's main square.

The idea is not new. It was first suggested in Rjukan 100 years ago by a worker at the nearby hydroelectric plant.

 
In the shade: Rjukan is nestled in a valley floor in rugged Telemark county and as the sun moving low across the sky in winter, it gets no direct sunlight between the months of September and March

In the shade: Rjukan is nestled in a valley floor in rugged Telemark county and as the sun moves low across the sky in winter, it gets no direct sunlight between the months of September and March

The plant's founder, celebrated Norwegian engineer and industrialist Sam Eyde was concerned his workers weren't getting enough sunshine during the winter months.

He considered the mirror idea but felt they lacked the technology to make it work so opted instead for the construction of a cable car.

Rjukan is situated in Norway's rugged Telemark county

Rjukan is situated in Norway's rugged Telemark county

In 2006, a similar project was successfully set up in the village of Viganella in northern Italy which had suffered from exactly the same problem.

A delegation from visited Viganella to see how their mirror had transformed people's lives, and was suitably impressed. 

After five years of debate, Rjukan town council finally agreed to invest the necessary 5 million Norwegian kroner (£544,000) to build the mirrors.

They are controlled by computer to follow the path of then sun, adjusting to the best angle to ensure the town square is bathed in light.

Solar panels will power equipment to automatically wash the mirrors and move them into position.

Designers hope the sunshine will revitalise the town during the winter months. 

A message on the Rjukan tourist website states: 'The square will become a sunny meeting place in a town otherwise in shadow.'

According to project coordinator, Øystein Hagan, the construction work is almost complete but it won't be until September, when the sun disappears, that the system can be properly tested. 

A similar scheme has been successfully implemented in the Italian village of Viganella where an eight-by-five metre mirror reflects sunlight onto the main square
A similar scheme has been successfully implemented in the Italian village of Viganella where an eight-by-five metre mirror reflects sunlight onto the main square

A similar scheme has been successfully implemented in the Italian village of Viganella where an eight-by-five metre mirror reflects sunlight onto the main square

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