Ranelva is a long river in Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is one of the longest rivers in Nordland county. The catchment area of the river is . Before the power stations of Reinforsen (1925) and Langvatnet (1964) were built, the catchment area was .
The river begins on the Saltfjellet plateau, near the border between Norway and Sweden, at the confluence of the little rivers Randalselva () and GubbeltÃÂ¥ga (). The river then flows mainly in a western-southwestern direction. On its way southwestwards, the river is joined by the river Virvasselva from south. The part of the Ranelva river between its beginning and its joining with Virvasselva is called RuovadajÃÂ¥hkÃÂ¥ in Lule Sami language.
Near Storvollen, the rivers BjøllÃÂ¥ga, Tespa, and StormdalsÃÂ¥ga all join Ranelva from the north and the river MessingÃÂ¥ga joins from the south. It continues in a southwestern direction through the Dunderland Valley. The rivers GrønfjellÃÂ¥ga and Plura join the Ranelva in this valley.
Southwest of the small village Røssvoll, Ranelva meets the river LangvassÃÂ¥ga which empties the lake Langvatnet. Further down, at Selfors, the river Revelelva (the name of the lowest parts of the river TverrÃÂ¥ga) joins the Ranelva. The river Ranelva empties into the Ranfjorden just south of Ytteren in Mo i Rana.
The river receives water from Storakersvatnet via Rana Hydroelectric Power Station.
Ranelva is a popular river for fishing. It is very rich with salmon and trout. One of the largest salmon tunnels in Norway ( long) is located at the Reinforsen waterfall, and was built in 1956.
Ranelva was cleansed with rotenone in 1996, 2004, and 2005 beneath the Sjøforsen waterfall, in order to remove the salmon parasite Gyrodactylus salaris, which was registered there for the first time in 1975.