20090830

Open house at the hydroelectric power dams


Yesterday there was an Open House program at several of the hydroelectricity dams around Switzerland. I actually missed it because I didn't learn about it until it was over. So, instead I'm showing a photo I took way back in 2006 at the Grand Dixence in Valais. The composition is not great, but perhaps you can get some idea of the scale with the tops of the cars and people in the foreground. It is rather frightening to think about what's behind the wall. Situated at 2300 meters above sea level the dam is 285 meters high. It is (apparently) the world's tallest concrete gravity dam.

Some 56% of Swiss domestic electrical power is covered by hydroelectricity. That's 38 billion kWh.

More information at swissinfo here:
Concrete giants open up to the public.
Or, at the website of the Open House program (not in English):
Schweizer Wasserkraft

20060712 Canon Powershot S410

1 comment:

Thierry Collart said...

La hauteur est réellement impressionnante !
En septembre, je vais visiter l'un ou l'autre barrage, il y en a tellement dans ma région (Emosson, Dixence, Mauvoisin...)