RJUKAN, Norway — Residents of this small town are seeing the light. Tucked between steep mountains, the town is normally shrouded in shadow for almost six months a year, with residents having to catch a cable car to the top of a nearby precipice to get a fix of midday vitamin D.
But Wednesday, faint rays from the winter sun reached the town’s market square for the first time, thanks to three 183-square-foot mirrors placed on a mountain.
Helicoptered in and installed 1,500 feet above the town square, the computer-controlled mirrors, or heliostats, are more commonly used to create solar power in sun-drenched regions of the Middle East.
“Before, when it was a fine day, you would see that the sky was blue and you knew that the sun was shining. But you couldn’t quite see it. It was very frustrating,” tourist office staffer Karin Roe said. “This feels warm.”
