Sendren Power Plant
The Sendren run-of-river hydroelectric power plant, which began operation in 1959, is located in the upper Gressoney Valley in Sendren, in the territory of the municipality of Gressoney-Saint-Jean.
Because of its characteristics it is defined as run-of-river, where it is the difference in elevation that gives speed to the water turbines. The penstock, from the forebay reservoir to the power plant, makes a dizzying leap of as much as 193 meters in height. Each year the plant is capable of producing about 30 GWh of renewable electricity. Sendren is a modern plant when compared to those in Gressoney and Pont-Saint-Martin from the early 1900s, and is quite similar-in age and technical characteristics-to the Zuino plant located in the municipality of Gaby.
The Sendren plant together with those of Gressoney, Zuino, Issime, and Pont-Saint-Martin form, in cascade, the watercourse of the Lys Valley, the longest of the side valleys of the Valle d’Aosta Region. These plants are capable of converting as much as 1905 meters of hydraulic potential energy into electricity, out of the just over 2000 meters available.
Characteristics of the plant
Key information
Municipality: Gressoney-Saint-Jean (AO)
Commissioning: year 1959
Watercourse: Lys stream
Intake structure: Lys stream
Other information
Altitude: 1,407 m asl
Catchment basin: 77 km2
Diversion canal: open-channel flow (3 km)
Units: no. 1 with Pelton turbine
Other information
Concession jump: 197.4 m
Flow rate: 6 m3/s
Power: 9.5 MW