Burfell Station is located towards the head of Thjorsardalur valley in south Iceland. A small hamlet has developed around the site, and the station and its employees form an important part of the rural community. An average of 35 employees work at Burfell Station, half of them local people. Staff numbers swell in summer when students arrive to work on various landscape improvement projects in the station and throughout the valley.
Not far from the station are renowned historical sites such as Stöng, where archaeologists have excavated the ruins of a farmhouse swamped by an eruption in Mt. Hekla in 1104. A replica Saga Age farm has been built nearby, along with a replica medieval church. Landsvirkjun has contributed to the construction and running of these buildings from the outset.
Thjorsardalur is also renowned for its natural wonders which include the waterfalls Hjalparfoss and Haifoss and the chasm known as Gjain. A wide range of travel and tourist services are also on offer in the vicinity of Burfell. In collaboration with local people, Landsvirkjun is working on enhancing the valley environment and making it as attractive as possible for travellers. And the outcome has been that in recent years Thjorsardalur has become one of the most popular places among travellers through south Iceland.
The Burfell layout consists of a dam on the river Thjorsa which previously flowed south of Mt. Burfell, diverting it northwards through the Samsstadamúli ridge and into the Thjorsardalur valley. A dam 4 km above the station diverts the River Thjorsa to the west through an ice-barrier running at right-angles from the north of the dam to the west bank of the river.
A channel containing a sluice runs to the west and into a cirque between Mt. Burfell, where the water collects in a 1 km² reservoir, Bjarnalon. The water is channelled from the western edge of the reservoir to the intake of a tunnel that has been blasted through Sámsstadamúli ridge. Measuring 1 km in length and 10 m in diameter, the tunnel lies more or less horizontal and is largely unclad.
The intake tunnel divides into two concrete-clad pressure shafts, 5.5-6 m in diameter, which create a vertical drop of 100 m. A 200 m horizontal headrace then leads up to the powerhouse, clad with steel along its final 100 m stretch, and branching out to feed six turbines with a 45 MW capacity each. After driving the turbines in the powerhouse, the water enters a short channel feeding the River Fossa in Thjorsardalur, which joins the River Thjórsa 2 km downstream.
Leaflet from the Sigurjón Ólafsson Exhibition in Búrfell Station 2008