A Norwegian hymn says “slekt skal følge slekters gang” which roughly translates to generations follow what generations before them have started. This fits especially well in case of Saudefaldene, that has provided a safe and stable workplace for many generations in the last century.  Many families have had several members on the company’s payroll and in some instances, multiple generations within the same family have followed their footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers to Saudefaldene. This story of the Nilsen grandfather, father, and son highlights the saga of one such family across three generations and is a strong and honest testimony to the working culture at Aktieselskabet Saudefaldene.

The story starts back in 1922 when a young fisherman named Karl Teberg Nilsen arrived to Sauda from Sandstrand in Gråfjord in the county of Troms, way up in Northern Norway. A few years back, Karl had started feeling that fishing as a profession was rather risky and unsafe, and decided to enroll in a technical school in Oslo. After finishing school, he was hired by Saudafaldene to work in the operations department at Sauda II, a power station that has since been decommissioned. During his time at Sauda, Karl met a lovely young woman called Klara Brynjulfsen from Storehaugen. Karl and Klara got married, moved into a machinist housing and had four children together- Bergit, Karl, Rolf and Marta. Things started looking rosy for this little family concerning both work and family life.

However, just as things were starting to look up, a tragic accident occurred in 1930 turned their lives upside-down. During a work incident at one of the powerplants, a boat capsized resulting in two men drowning to their deaths – one of them was Karl Teberg Nilsen.

The family struggled but never gave up. As the two boys, Karl and Rolf came of age, both of them decided to work for Saudefaldene power plants. Rolf Nilsen, a second-generation Saudefaldene employee, served his whole career at Saudefaldene from 1948 to 1995. Starting off as a proud “roughneck” who completed countless dangerous missions and “dirty” jobs, Rolf Nilsen developed specialized skills and valuable experiences, which later lead him to become a leader for a road restoration project.

Helge Nilsen, son of Rolf Nilsen, also followed the footsteps of his grandfather and father by taking up a career with Saudafaldene. The highlight of his career was his engagement with the modernization and expansion of the Saude power plants. Helge devoted great passion to this project and saw its completion in 2010. Helge started his career with Saudafaldene in 1985 and worked with the company until recently in 2011, when he decided to pursue diverse challenges outside the company.

The three Nilsen generations shared common spirits – pride in their profession and an innate, contagious joy that stems from doing what they love. Helge Nilsen has two daughters who have chosen to study and work close to the area that the three generations have worked in: One of the daughters is working as a political scientist at NVE; the other has recently finished her education as a civil engineer and has worked at several construction plants. Whether this will lead to a fourth generation of Nilsen working for Saudefaldene, remains to be seen in the future.