Lac du Vieux Émosson is a reservoir in Valais, Switzerland, in the municipality of Finhaut at an elevation of 2205 m. The lake drains into the reservoir Lac d'Émosson, 300 m below.
| Lac du Vieux Émoson | |
|---|---|
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  Lac du Vieux Émoson  Lac du Vieux Émoson  Lac du Vieux Émoson  Lac du Vieux Émoson  Lac du Vieux Émoson | |
| Location | Valais |
| Coordinates | 46°3′45″N 6°53′21″E / 46.06250°N 6.88917°E |
| Catchment area | 4.6 km2 (1.8 sq mi) |
| Basin countries | Switzerland |
| Max. length | 1.5 km (0.93 mi) |
| Surface area | 0.55 km2 (0.21 sq mi) |
| Max. depth | 42 m (138 ft) |
| Water volume | 13.8 million cubic metres (11,200 acre⋅ft) |
| Surface elevation | 2,205 m (7,234 ft) |
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In September 2014, an increase of the dam by 21.5 meters was completed. The capacity of the lake was thus doubled to 25 million m³. The larger capacity is used for the Nant de Drance pumped storage plant, for which Lac du Vieux Emosson forms the upper basin and Emosson reservoir the lower basin.[1] The storage power plant went into operation on July 1, 2022, after 14 years of construction. The construction of the plant cost the equivalent of 2 billion euros. The installed capacity is 900 MW, and 20 GWh can be stored.[2]
The arch dam Vieux Émosson was completed in 1955. Efforts to raise the dam 20 m (66 ft) began in 2013. The lake forms the upper reservoir for the 900 MW Nant de Drance Hydropower Plant which began operations in 2022.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Archived (Date missing) at nant-de-drance.ch (Error: unknown archive URL)
- ^ "Nant de Drance: Neues Pumpspeicherkraftwerk in der Schweiz geht in Betrieb - Golem.de". golem.de. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ "20GWh pumped hydro energy storage plant starting operations in Switzerland". Energy Storage News. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
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