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 Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

watershed, and for the Tyssedal Hydroelectric Power Station and

Aura Hydroelectric Power Station Aura Power Station () is a hydroelectric power station located in Sunndal Municipality in Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the count ...

Biography

Blakstad was born at

Asker Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

, 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 Gudolf Blakstad (19 May 1893 – 22 November 1985) was a Norwegian architect. He was noted for his work in the transition between neo-classicism and functionalism in Norwegian architecture. Biography Blakstad was born in Gjerpen, Norway. ...

. Their father, together with Ole H. Holta (1851–1928), had started the lumber company, Blakstad, Holta & Co, in

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

. 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 Froland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center is the village of Blakst ...

. In 1910, he acquired the majority of shares in the Tyssedal Hydroelectric Power Station (''AS Tyssefaldene'') and became director general of the company. In 1913 he acquired the majority in Aura Hydroelectric Power Station (''Aura kraftverk''). In these endeavors, he had to raise capital for acquisitions from outside parties including members of the

Wallenberg family The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish family of bankers, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats and diplomats, present in most large Swedish industrial groups, including EQT AB, Ericsson, Electrolux, ABB, SAS Group, SKF, Atlas Copco, ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

including Marcus Wallenberg, Sr., founder of Stockholms Enskilda Bank. After the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

his operations were hit by the post-war depression. The markets failed and he had to sell off much of his investments. In 1917, he co-founded The Norwegian Iron Works (''De Norske Jernverker A/S''), and followed up with plans for a steel and rolling mills in

Risør is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Ri ...

. In 1919, this property formed the basis of the

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, ) was a county (''fylke'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . ...

power stations (''Aust-Agder Kraftverk'').

Personal life

In 1890, he married Margarethe Jensen (1866–1938).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blakstad, Ragnvald 1866 births 1929 deaths People from Asker Norwegian business executives Norwegian company founders