Smøla

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Smøla kommune
Municipality
250px
Coat of arms of Smøla kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Smøla kommune
Møre og Romsdal within
Norway
Smøla within Møre og Romsdal
Smøla within Møre og Romsdal
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Country Norway
County Møre og Romsdal
District Nordmøre
Administrative centre Hopen
Government
 • Mayor (2011) Roger Osen (AP)
Area
 • Total 281.82 km2 (108.81 sq mi)
 • Land 270.44 km2 (104.42 sq mi)
 • Water 11.38 km2 (4.39 sq mi)
Area rank 285 in Norway
Population (2013)
 • Total 2,180
 • Rank 321 in Norway
 • Density 8.1/km2 (21/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) -3.8 %
Demonym(s) Smølværing[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1573
Official language form Neutral
Website www.smola.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Smøla is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hopen, other villages include Dyrnes, Råket, and Veiholmen.

General information

File:Veiholmen1.jpg
The fishing village of Veiholmen

The municipality of Smøla was established on 1 January 1960 after the merger of the municipalities of Edøy, Brattvær, and Hopen. The initial population was 4,046. The boundaries have not changed since that time.[2]

Name

The municipality is named after the main island of Smøla (Old Norse: Smyl or Smjöl). The name is probably derived from smuler which means "crumbs", referring to the thousands of small islands and islets around the main island.[3]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted in 1989. The arms show two white seagulls on a red background. This design was chosen to highlight the fact that this is an island community.[4]

See also: Coat-of-Arms of Hasvik

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes within the municipality of Smøla. It is part of the Ytre Nordmøre deanery in the Diocese of Møre.

Churches in Smøla
Parish (Sokn) Church Name Year Built Location of the Church
Brattvær Brattvær Church 1917 Brattvær
Edøy Edøy Church 1885 Edøy
Old Edøy Church c. 1190 Edøya
Hopen Hopen Church 1892 Hopen

Geography

File:Todalsgeita 550.jpg
View of a boat in Smøla

The municipality of Smøla is located north of the town of Kristiansund, off the western coast of Norway. The municipality consists of the main island of Smøla and more than 3,000 smaller ones. The 214-square-kilometre (83 sq mi) main island is very flat, the highest peak reaches 63 metres (207 ft) above sea level. Almost all of the land area consists of marshes and cliffs; only 5% is cultivated into agricultural land. Other minor islands in the municipality include Edøya, Kuli, and Veiholmen. The municipality is separated from the rest of Norway by the Edøyfjorden to the south.

Due to the vast number of small islands surrounding Smøla, there are several lighthouses. The three most notable ones are Haugjegla Lighthouse (north of Smøla), Skalmen Lighthouse, (northwest of Smøla), and Tyrhaug Lighthouse (southeast of Smøla in the Edøyfjorden).

Scientists of the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformationtechnique of the Technical University of Berlin were testing the antique maps of Ptolemy and recognized a pattern of calculation mistakes that occurred when one tried to convert the old coordinates from Ptolemy into modern cartographical maps. The scientists believe that, when one compensates for these mistakes, the mythological location Thule corresponds to the island of Smøla.[5]

Energy

File:Dyrnesgolf.jpg
View of some wind turbines

On 5 September 2002, Statkraft announced the opening of the Smøla Wind Farm, a 40-megawatt (54,000 hp) wind project comprising twenty 2 MW wind turbines by Norway's King Harald V. This corresponds to phase one of the wind project, which when completed will have a total installed capacity of more than 110 MW. Phase two was opened in September 2005 and included forty-eight 2.3 MW wind turbines. All in all, the wind energy production project consists of 68 windmills, making it among the largest wind projects in Europe. With a total generating capacity of 150 megawatts (200,000 hp), the Smøla wind farm's 68 turbines account for more than half of the installed wind power capacity in Norway. The total generating capacity is equivalent to 450 GWh of electricity per year, which corresponds to the average annual power consumption of 22,500 Norwegian households.[6]

Attractions

File:Kulisteinen.jpg
View of the Kulisteinen

References

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External links