In the far north, when the sun goes down in September, that's it. Six months of near darkness broken only by the howls of wolves and the tourists who came to see the Northern Lights but forgot that winter can be cloudy (the tourists that is, not the wolves). In Rjukan, a lovely Norwegian town located in the dramatic Vestfjord valley, the winter darkness was particularly hard to bear because they could see the sunshine touching the 1,883m tip of the local mountain, Gaustatoppen.

Now thanks to an ingenious set of mirrors on the mountain, a great beam of sunlight is going to be directed into the town square. The area is well-known among Norwegians for its excellent cross-country skiing and ice-climbing – so from now on après ski will no doubt involve soaking up a few rays. Who will be the first person to get an Arctic winter tan, I wonder? Will it impress Londoners who sneer at any sunbeam that can't melt a car?

A sunbeam in Rjukan. Photograph: Martin Andersen

The idea was first dreamed up exactly a century ago by local man Sam Eyde, but only now can the mirrors be precisely computer-controlled, creating a patch of sun about the size of three tennis courts. Now there's a thought: maybe they could grow some winter strawberries too?