Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant

Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant (Kárahnjúkavirkjun, [ˈkʰauːraˌn̥juːkaˌvɪr̥cʏn]), officially called Fljótsdalur Power Station (Fljótsdalsstöð [ˈfljoutsˌtalsˌstœː]) is a hydroelectric power plant in Fljótsdalshérað municipality in eastern Iceland, designed to produce 4,600 gigawatt-hours (17, 000 TJ) annually for Alcoa's Fjarðaál aluminum smelter 75 kilometres (47 mi) to the east in Reyðarfjörður. With the installed capacity of 690 megawatts (930, 000 hp), the plant is the largest power plant in Iceland. The project, named after the nearby Kárahnjúkar mountains, involves damming the rivers Jökulsá á Dal and Jökulsá í Fljótsdal with five dams, creating three reservoirs. Water from the reservoirs is diverted through 73 kilometres (45 mi) of underground water tunnels and down a 420-metre (1, 380 ft) vertical penstock towards a single underground power station. The smelter became fully operational in 2008 and the hydropower project was completed in 2009. The Kárahnjúkar Dam (Kárahnjúkastífla [ˈkʰauːraˌn̥juːkaˌstipla]) is the centrepiece of the five dams and the largest of its type in Europe, standing 193 metres (633 ft) tall with a length of 730 metres (2, 400 ft) and comprising 8.5 million cubic metres (300×10^6 cu ft) of material. The project has been heavily criticised for its environmental impact and its use of foreign workers.

Power station data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).