Utsira

Utsira is an island 18 kilometers west before Karmøy and Norway's smallest municipality in the North Sea. The island is also named for the same sea area.

History

The municipality is part of the Utsira Haugaland. On the island finds were made from the stone age. The Church of Utsira dated in 1785.

Infrastructure

Traffic

The island is regularly hit by a ship of the line of Haugesund.

Power supply

Utsira is powered by a submarine cable from the mainland with electrical energy.

In August 2004, an autonomous power supply system was inaugurated, which is powered exclusively by wind energy as a primary energy. In the applied two to three years attempting the first on this scale, to obtain their power from two Enercon E-40 plants ten of the 70 households. Short-term flow fluctuations are offset by a flywheel storage (5 kWh). Excess energy is temporarily stored in the form of hydrogen in a pressure accumulator with a capacity of up to three days. This is (55 kW) converted back into electricity during calm or storm, so if the plants do not supply enough power via a 10 kW fuel cell and a hydrogen engine with a generator. A generator was used during the testing phase to protect against power failure. One of the main investors is the Norwegian (oil) company Norsk Hydro with its hydrogen business.

Others

For birdwatchers, the island is famous for the resting migratory birds here.

The Seewetterdienst Hamburg is in his reports to the weather for the sea area Utsira.