Ragnvald Blakstad
Norwegian industrialist and hydropower pioneer
Ragnvald Blakstad (20 May 1866 – 26 April 1929) was a Norwegian industrialist and hydropower pioneer. He is best known for developing hydropower in the Arendal watershed, and for the Tyssedal Hydroelectric Power Station and Aura Hydroelectric Power Station.
Biography
Blakstad was born at Asker Municipality in Akershus, Norway. He was born to Erik Jørgensen Blakstad (1827–90) and Larine (Laura) Gabrielsen (1832–68). He was a brother of both Finn Blakstad and Wilhelm Blakstad as well as an uncle of Gudolf Blakstad. Their father, together with Ole H. Holta (1851–1928), had started the lumber company, Blakstad, Holta & Co, in Skien.
Blakstad moved to Arendal in 1888 and started first with the exports of lumber. In 1896, he co-founded the power company AS Barbu, when he had received a license to produce electricity in Barbu river. He subsequently bought numerous other waterfalls in along the Arendal watercourse. In 1897 bought Blakstad Eivindstadfossen in Froland Municipality.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ragnvald Blakstad” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.