Söderfors

The Dalälv river was supplying the factories in the town of Söderfors with mechanical power well before hydro power was introduced in Sweden. Söderfors Steelworks was founded in 1676 to supply anchors to the Swedish navy. The small mill town mid-way along the Dalälv river survived the steel crisis and steel is still made there to this day. A hydro power plant to generate electricity for the area was constructed at Storforsen as early as the late 19th century.

Old power plant replaced with a new one

In the 1970s, work began on replacing the old hydro power plant with a new facility, and the new power plant was completed in 1979. Since there were already regulating dams for all three arms of the river, the new power plant was able to utilise almost all of the water in the river. The new power plant has two bulb-type turbines and a head of five metres. Its installed capacity is 20 MW.