Herøya

Geographical location

Herøya is the name of a Norwegian peninsula on the territory of the town of Porsgrunn in Telemark province. It is covered by the Frier Fjord in the west and from the east Gunneklevfjord; the river flows Skienselva here. The name of the peninsula (literally as " Rabbit Island " ) is derived from the wild rabbits that are said to have lived here before in large numbers. Today Herøya is considered the largest industrial site in Norway.

On a site on which previously had only found some farms, the Norsk Hydro Group established in 1929 after only 16 months of construction, a large fertilizer factory and a port for the shipment of calcium nitrate. The plant has been operated since 2004 by the former Hydro- daughter Yara.

After the occupation of Norway in April 1940, the German occupying power plans to settle on Herøya aluminum and magnesium factories. The under-construction, nearly completed facilities were completely destroyed in an Allied bombing on July 24, 1943 55 workers left their lives.

At the beginning of the fifties attacked Hydro on the old plans and built a magnesium factory on Herøya, which was converted in 2002 into a modern smelting plant for scrap metal recycling. Since 1951, Hydro also produces PVC on Herøya.

Today, on a 1.5 -acre site 30 companies active that belong mainly to the Hydro Group. Among other things, the central research department of the company with 350 employees, has its headquarters on the peninsula. Currently a total of about 2700 people work on Herøya.

• Peninsula ( Europe)
• Peninsula (Norway )
• Peninsula (Atlantic Ocean )
• Geography (Telemark )
• Porsgrunn