Pont-Saint-Martin Power Plant

The history of the Pont-Saint-Martin reservoir hydroelectric plant has its roots in the early 1900s, when it was built. The power plant building, with its exposed stone wall structure perfectly integrated into the landscape, is located in a particularly impressive position set just upstream from the imposing Roman bridge that gives the village its name, built during the Romanization campaign in the valley (around 25 B.C.). 

In 1958, when the machinery was replaced, the station next to the power plant was also built. In addition, the water flow rate has been increased: a third pipeline has been installed alongside the two existing ones, and three higher-powered generator sets, totalling 45 MW, have been installed. Thus, renewable hydropower generation increased to 158,000,000 kWh/year.

The Pont-Saint-Martin plant is home to the Lower Valley Operations Department, a unit that manages the personnel involved in the maintenance of the eleven plants under its jurisdiction (Gressoney, Sendren, Zuino, Issime, Pont-Saint-Martin, Bard, Quincinetto, Hone 1, Hone 2, Verres and Isollaz).

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Characteristics of the plant

Key information

Municipality: Pont-Saint-Martin (AO)

Commissioning: year 1920

Watercourse: Lys stream

Intake structure: Guillemore Basin

Other information

Altitude: 349 m asl

Refurbishment: year 1958

Catchment basin: 237 km2

Diversion canal: open-channel flow (10 km)

Other information

Units: no. 3 with Pelton turbine

Concession jump: 541 m

Flow rate: 9.5 m3/s

Power: 45 MW

Map

Last update: Jun 15, 2022 16:05:10 (GMT+2)