Photo: Autarks · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Porjus gamla kraftstation

Listed hydroelectric power station from 1915 on Stora Luleälven (the Lule River), with a museum on the early hydropower era, for the time being closed to visitors.

Temporarily closed

Website Directions

Temporarily closed. The power station is for the time being closed to visitors. Contact Vattenfall for current information on when it reopens.

About the museum

The decision to build a hydroelectric power station in Stora Luleälven at the outflow of Porjusselet was taken by the Riksdag in 1910. The main purpose was to electrify the ore railway between Kiruna and Narvik. The construction was difficult: the site was remote, the workers dug by hand, and supplies were carried on foot from Gällivare until a railway to Porjus opened in 1911. The first turbine started in 1914, and the station was inaugurated in 1915 as the first large power station north of the Arctic Circle.

The machine hall lies underground, about 50 metres below the building, and was one of the world's first underground power plants. The large brick building in national romantic style, with towers and a golden crown, is sometimes called the temple in the wilderness (templet i ödemarken). After the First World War several industries moved to Porjus, and the last of them closed in 1958. The building is a listed building (byggnadsminne) and is owned by Vattenfall.

In the large power station building there is a museum with exhibitions on the early hydropower era and the history of the power station. According to the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten (Länsstyrelsen i Norrbotten), the power station is for the time being closed to visitors, and visitors are referred to Vattenfall for information on when it reopens.

Highlights

National romantic brick building with towers and a golden crown
Underground machine hall from the 1910s
Museum on the early hydropower era
The first large power station north of the Arctic Circle
Listed building since 1986