Power line splits the Vikings

CHANGE comes hard around the deep fjords on the west coast of Norway. In 1857, when the first hotel went up in Norheimsund, townsfolk protested: hotels brought drinking, they said, and loose women.

It is not surprising that they are firmly against the latest development, a huge high-tension line from hydroelectric plants in the mountains above the fjords to cities on the coast, particularly Bergen, the country's second largest.

If the power line is built on pylons, as its planners wish, it will cut through mountains above Norheimsund; if it is strung along the floor of the fjord, as opponents of the overhead line want, it will enter the water in the town's small port.

"They just don't want it," said Hakon Borgen, 42, executive vice president at Statnett, the Norwegian power line operator that wants to build the 90-mile, $150 million (93m) pylon line.

Audun Gulbrandsen, 24, a jazz saxophonist and opponent of the project, said: "The area does not have power lines of this magnitude," adding that several of the 270 pylons in the plan would be, at 120ft, "the largest in Norway".

For Gulbrandsen and others, it is unacceptable to run a power line through a region that has perhaps Norway's most breathtaking landscape, with steep, stony mountains, deep, dark fjords and majestic views from where the sea-raiding Vikings once sailed. His grandparents and parents farmed there, he said. "This is why I got to know the case."

There were demonstrations against the plan in Oslo in summer, and a Facebook campaign gathered almost 110,000 supporters. The solution the protesters propose seems simple: instead of an overhead power line, run a cable along the floor of the deep Hardanger Fjord, the principal and arguably, most beautiful fjord in the region.

But that would be expensive. While an overhead line would cost around $152m, a combination of an underwater cable and high tension lines would cost four times as much.

Nevertheless, most people in and around Norheimsund like the underwater solution. Atle Kvamme, of the local Chamber of Commerce, said the most important thing was for the Bergen region to have enough power. Yet, he added: "We're a rich nation. We can afford to build in the sea."

Few appreciate the region more than Borgen. From Bergen, two hours west, he hiked and sailed there before moving to Oslo in 1995 to join Statnett. The same people who resist the new power line, he argues, have increased their electricity consumption by 80 per cent over the past two decades.

Hydroelectricity is cheap in Norway, and in winter, the grid is stretched.Unfortunately, as Borgen and others point out, the water is in the mountains, the consumers are on the coast.

Borgen has agreed to a feasibility study for running the cable through the fjord, which is 2,624ft at its deepest point, just off Norheimsund. The study results are expected in February, after which Statnett will decide how to proceed.

Some critics do not think a power line is necessary at all. "Should you invest for the extreme situation, or just muddle through?" asked Johan Odfjell, a Norwegian businessman who has run insurance firms and electricity grid operators. "The power industry says invest."

Odfjell, 62, calls himself a "nonprofit social entrepreneur" and supports the protest with money and expertise.

He calls for an independent expert to judge whether another line is necessary, or whether demand can be met through conservation and upgrade of existing lines.

Not everyone living in the area agrees with the protesters. In neighbouring Samnanger, Marit Aksnes Aase, 63, who has been mayor since 1999, wants the power line, which would link up with the existing grid on town land. Where some see nature defaced, she sees possibilities. "We focus on the opportunities, not the problems," she said.