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Norwegian Village of Rjukan Innovates with Solar Mirrors That Capture Sunlight in Winter for Less Than 600 Thousand Euros, Inspired by 20th Century Project.
In Norway, a country located near the North Pole, daily sunlight hours are significantly shorter compared to countries situated closer to the equator. This characteristic is due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis, especially evident during winter at the North Pole, when sunlight strikes these latitudes with less intensity. In light of this challenge, the town of Rjukan adopted an innovative solution: the installation of mirrors capable of reflecting sunlight, thus compensating for the limited natural exposure to the sun.
Mirrors Were Placed on 600 m² in Rjukan
This small village in Norway is located in a deep valley in the province of Telemark. There, the mountains block sunlight for six months of the year. The small town was founded a century ago and currently has 3,500 inhabitants who can see sunlight through mirrors placed on the mountain.
When we watch a documentary or see an image online, the Earth is always viewed with a tilt on its axis of 23.5°. As mentioned above, this tilt means that, at this moment, there is practically no sunlight at the North Pole.
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Various villages and towns near the poles suffer from total darkness during the winter, Rjukan being one of them. Only as summer approaches does the sun begin to rise in its valleys and mountains. Thanks to the mirror project, 600 square meters have been indirectly illuminated by sunlight.
The three mirrors (heliostats) were placed on a 400-meter mountain, positioned by a helicopter and controlled to follow the sun’s path. The idea came from Martin Andersen, a Parisian artist who was inspired by Sam Eyde, who wished to do the same in the early 20th century.
Mirror Project in Rjukan Cost Only 600 Thousand Euros
As Eyde’s technology was not so advanced at the time, the first ski lifts in Scandinavia were put into operation, called Krossobanen, which took the inhabitants of Rjukan to the top of the mountain to catch some sun and stay healthy.
The project cost five million crowns, about 600 thousand euros. Furthermore, the solar energy captured by the mirrors is used to power their tilting mechanism as they follow the path of the winter sun across the sky of Norway.
Although the main idea was Sam Eyde’s, it was Viganella, a town in northern Italy, that pioneered the installation of mirrors to capture sunlight. The designer was Giacomo Bonzani, who managed to install a mirror that measured 40 square meters, 8 meters wide and 5 meters tall.
The famous Italian mirror that attracts hundreds of tourists was produced by a company from Huelva. Its inauguration took place in 2006 and was named “the Meeting of Light.” This peculiar project allows thousands of inhabitants in Piedmont and Rjukan to avoid spending so many months without sunlight.
Discover the Solar Power Tower Installed in Israel
In addition to the mirrors in Rjukan, a solar power tower was installed in 2019 in Ashalim. Called Sauron’s Eye, this venture gets its nickname from the movie “The Lord of the Rings,” due to its size, but mainly because of its intense brightness.
There are about 25 towers of this kind in the world, and the venture cost US$ 800 million, in return for which the government promised to purchase electricity from the mirror tower at a rate of about 23 cents per kilowatt-hour.
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