Alta Hydroelectric Power Station

Virdnejávr Dam
Location in Finnmark country
Official name	Alta kraftverk
Country	Norway
Location	Alta Municipality, Finnmark
Coordinates	69°42′17.77″N 23°49′08.03″E / 69.7049361°N 23.8188972°E / 69.7049361; 23.8188972Coordinates: 69°42′17.77″N 23°49′08.03″E / 69.7049361°N 23.8188972°E / 69.7049361; 23.8188972
Status	Operational
Opening date	1987; 31 years ago (1987)
Owner(s)	Statkraft
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Arch
Impounds	Alta-Kautokeino River
Height	145 m (476 ft)
Type	Conventional
Turbines	2
Installed capacity	150 megawatts (200,000 hp) (max. planned)

Alta power station (Norwegian: Alta kraftverk) is a hydroelectric power station located on the Alta-Kautokeino River in Finnmark county, Norway. The power station is located in Alta Municipality, just north of the border with Kautokeino Municipality. It is operated by Statkraft, a Norwegian state-owned electric company, and it opened in 1987.

The station is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the mouth of the Alta River, and it receives most of its water from the great Finnmarksvidda plateau. Below the power station, the river has salmon, and is a good fishing river. The station consists of two generators, at 100 megawatts (130,000 hp) and 50 MW (67,000 hp), respectively. The station utilises a 185 metres (607 ft) fall from the dam at the end of the 18 km (11 mi) long reservoir Virdnejávri. From the 145 m (476 ft) tall Virdnejávr Dam to the end of the power station the river is dry for about 2 km (1.2 mi). It is the tallest dam in the country.

The background for the controversy was a published plan by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) that called for the construction of a dam and hydroelectric power plant that would create an artificial lake and inundate the Sami village of Máze. After the initial plan met political resistance, a less ambitious project was proposed that would cause less displacement of Sami residents and less disruption for reindeer migration and wild salmon fishing.