Nämforsens kraftstation

Green energy is always good. However, green energy also requires a proper fish ladder—that's something we should reconsider.

Hydropower is great, right? I don't even want to talk about the fish, who think hydropower is only so-so.nnIn 1946, there was no question of consideration. Power generators were the saviors of the modern world, and every power plant was enthusiastically celebrated and welcomed. The Nämforsen pronounced: Nämmfoschen power plant on the Angermanälven was no exception. Just imagine how the Swiss people would react if someone proposed converting the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen into electricity. In terms of dimensions, both falls are comparable: flow rate, drop height. Only the Angermanälven had the misfortune of flowing somewhere in central Sweden and not being a Swiss national shrine. So, it was summarily shut down during the war. Today, Vattenfall under pressure from the government lets a third of its water rush over the rapids in the summer. Someone noticed that tourists love standing there and watching the power of the water.nnThe fact that there were and are a few thousand Stone Age rock carvings in the same place hardly bothered anyone in the mid-1940s. Get rid of the old stuff. There are still plenty left. Two thousand of these Stone Age works of art are truly still preserved. Today, the Nämforsen hydroelectric power plant would definitely not be approved a second time, central Sweden or not. We don't remember it logically, but the generations before us abused nature; we're mere mere scoundrels compared to them. The Neander Valley – blasted away and dredged; the Guaira Falls after all, the largest falls in the world! in Brazil – blasted away, lost forever; the Upper Rhine – straightened and degraded to a waterway…nThe list would be endless if I continued.