The Bard run-of-river hydropower plant falls into the category of small hydropower plants: in fact, it is one of 5 CVA plants with a capacity of less than 5 MW. Its renewable hydropower production is almost continuous and annually manages to generate about 25 GWh. A vertical hydroelectric unit with a Kaplan turbine is installed within the plant, which feeds power directly into the 15-kV distribution grid.

The current plant has replaced, in 1941, the previous power plant built in the early 20th century, which remained in operation until the eve of World War II.

The Bard power plant stands in one of the most interesting sites in the Aosta Valley, from the point of view of its archaeological and historical stratification. The road layout, which is strongly conditioned topographically by the narrows in which the Dora Baltea barely breaks through between very high walls, is later reflected in the construction of the charming medieval village of Bard and the Fort bearing the same name, an imposing construction of military architecture on several levels, rebuilt in the early decades of the 19th century on the remains of an ancient medieval castle destroyed in the Napoleonic era, now the permanent home of the Museum of the Alps.

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