With a drop of 20.5 meters and a catchment area of approximately 41 200 sq.kms, Sarpsfossen is known to be the largest waterfall in Europe measured by water flow. It is the last waterfall in the longest and largest river in Norway– Glomma. But more impressively, the story of harnessing energy from Sarpsfossen dates all the way back to 1312 and is part of the proud Norwegian heritage where hydropower has played an integral part in developing the wealth of the nation.
Sarp power plant is the largest of three power plants that utilize the energy from Sarpsfossen- others include Borregaard and Hafslund. The decision to construct Sarp powerplant was taken in 1974 in order to utilize flood water flow in the lower Glomma. This represented a further expansion of Sarpsfossen that increased intake capacity of 450 m3 /s without any major infrastructure development. In 2009, a substantial reinvestment was made at Sarp to install a new control system, new main transformer and conduct a generator audit.