The project entitled The Cultural Monuments of Power Transmission deals with one of the most important features of our modern welfare society – the power transmission system, which is a central part of the infrastructure of electricity supply. This system is the link between the power stations and the consumers and consists of power lines that transmit the electric power, as well as stations along the lines, which transform, switch and distribute the electric power. Throughout the history of Norwegian power transmission many valuable cultural monuments have been established, and these deserve to be taken care of and managed in a proper way.
From the perspective of cultural history, the history of power transmission is a brief one, but one that has played a decisive role in the development of society. From the very beginning with small, local electricity plants in the second half of the 19th century, the transmission grid has expanded to cover the entire country, and in addition it has developed links to other countries. Today, power lines, transformer stations and transformer substations are part of the public domain, whether in a city or in rural areas. They have become part of our “everyday landscape”.
The government has set out guidelines as to how the public sector shall ensure that a representative selection of its cultural monuments is recorded, managed, communicated and protected in a professional way. By way of this project the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) is following up its responsibility for the cultural monuments of watercourses and the energy sector. NVE has previously implemented comparable projects by releasing books for cultural monuments within power production (2006) and in watercourses (2010).
In this project most of the installations considered for selection are linked to the main electricity grid and to the regional grid. The power transmission installations are considered in terms of their cultural context and cultural value. It needs to be emphasised that the selection shall exhibit the diversity as regards period, geographical situation, grid level and voltage level, technical solution and material use, adaptation to the landscape and the environment, architecture, area of application for the power and the organisation of the electricity supply. The selection also comprises installations associated with important historical milestones, political decisions and public involvement. The main objective is to present a selection of power transmission plants which are of value in terms of national cultural history.
The project was initiated in the autumn of 2008 and is a cooperative effort between Statnett SF (the Norwegian state owned grid owner and operator), Energy Norway, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage and NVE. The project was implemented by NVE, and a great many persons from grid companies and other professional environments have contributed much knowledge and professional competence in the field of power transmission in general, of other related professional fields, as well as knowledge of the individual installations that have been mentioned or selected.
The final report of the project was first released as a book in December 2010, and will serve as a professional basis for future work with management and conservation of the most important installations. This requires that both owners and authorities follow up the work. The final report also provides material for research and further communication of the Norwegian history of power transmission.
At this website we present the selected power transmission installations, which are considered to be of cultural historical value in a national perspective. The selection consists of 24 power lines and 19 transformer stations. Each installation is described with a presentation of the installation’s background and history, and the technical construction is explained. Regarding the transformer stations, the architecture of the buildings is discussed, as is the relationship of the lines to the landscape and the environment. We also present a justification for why the installation has been selected. The description is supplemented by maps, pictures and illustrations, as well as reference to sources.
Through this project – and this website – we wish to bring to light more knowledge on the history of power transmission, and on the impact electricity has had on the development of the Norwegian welfare society. We hope that it will also provide increased understanding of and interest in conservation of these types of cultural monuments.