Blanda Station is a unique design among Icelandic hydropower stations, with its powerhouse located at a depth of more than 200 metres underground. The powerhouse and turbines are located there in a manmade vault which is accessible by both elevator and an 800 metre road tunnel for vehicles. It is also unique as the first hydropower facility designed entirely by Icelanders.
To compensate for the vegetation on the land covered by the Blanda reservoir, Landsvirkjun has reclaimed more than 3,000 hectares of barren land for cultivation in the area since 1981 and maintains it by applying fertilizer regularly. Interestingly, since the river Blanda was harnessed it has become one of the best salmon rivers in Iceland. An average of 15 employees work at Blanda Station.
Development of the Blanda power project began in 1984 and the first generating unit went on line in autumn 1991. A dam has been constructed on the River Blanda roughly half-way between its source and estuary. Another dam has been built to the west at the source of the Kolka tributary of the River Vatnadalsá.
From the Kolka dam, water is directed along channels and via a series of lakes for a total distance of 25 km to the station intake reservoir. Water is then directed from the intake reservoir along a 1,300 m headrace canal to the intake. After entering a steep inclined penstock, the water drops down a 230 m vertical steel-lined pressure shaft to the powerhouse, which is more than 200 m underground. In the powerhouse, the shaft branches to feed three horizontal shafts, each driving a 50 MW turbine. The water leaves the turbines via a 1,700 m tailrace, re-entering the river which has been deepened with a channel along a 1,200 m stretch.