Sweden's largest dam is located at Trängslet in Dalarna.
It has a capacity of 880 million cubic meters of water and is one of the approximately 500 dams in the country that could cause great devastation if it broke.
- You do not even want to think the thought.
But if that were to happen, it would have fatal consequences for Sweden, both in terms of electricity supply and for society in general, says Toni Kekkinen, CEO of Fortum Sweden, which is responsible for the dam in Trängslet.
When the great storm hit Europe at its worst just over a week ago, a dam in Germany risked bursting.
It was exposed to enormous pressure by the heavy rainfall and the authorities had to work hard to reduce the load.
Climate adaptable to the ponds
In Sweden, they are now taking into account that storms can cause problems here in the future as well.
- We see that we must adapt our facilities to the climate for future scenarios, so that we can handle the larger water volumes that can be expected in the future, says Toni Kekkinen.
At the dam in Trängslet, extensive work is currently underway so that it can be emptied of even more water during greatly increased flows.
- We are working on reinforcement work to be able to get more water out of the dam.
We also strengthen downstream so that the dam is not eroded, says Toni Kekkinen.
Supervision must be improved
For a few years now, safety at Swedish dams has been tightened.
However, a new report from Svenska kraftnät states that supervision needs to be further improved, among other things through increased competence at the County Administrative Boards.
- We see that supervision from the County Administrative Board has increased.
They have been and made site visits to our facilities, even if they are not so many, it is at least a start, we welcome more resources so they can increase their supervision and increase dam safety in Sweden in total, says Toni Kekkinen.
In a few years, the work at the dam in Trängslet will be completed, but already today the safety is high, says Fortum.
- I feel very safe with the security work we do, says Toni Kekkinen.