Forty-thousand people displaced upstream by rising waters weren't happy with their resettlement. Another objection to the scheme was that local inhabitants were not benefiting from the cheap energy produced by the scheme - with more than half the power generated going directly to industrial complexes nearby. Now Phase II, which will add 11 new generators to the dam, is underway and Union leaders fear more land and people will be affected. Elsewhere, dams have been less socially and environmentally damaging. Norway Norwegians consume more energy per capita than any other country on earth, about ten times the world average.
Power is cheap thanks to numerous hydro-electric power projects.
But even here they're now questioning whether big dams are really the answer. From the beginning, Noway's tough rules for Hydro schemes have minimised the social and environmental costs and, luckily for Norway, their mountainous geography means that most hydro plants are located in remote high locations which remove the need to drown vast tracts of low-lying land. But Norway is facing an uncertain future. Nearly all the areas that could support Hydro schemes without affecting the local population have been exploited. Now, this power-hungry nation has a problem.