Lac de Serre-Ponçon

The Lac de Serre- Ponçon is an artificial lake in the French Western Alps in the Hautes -Alpes and Alpes- de -Haute -Provence.

His erected from 1955 to 1961, 124 m high and 630 m long dam dammed the upper Durance. Europe's largest earth dam is 123 m thick at its base and contains about 14 million cubic meters of material. Before Seeflutung 1500 people had to be resettled. In addition, a railroad line and two national roads ( N94 and N100 ) was laid.

The 20- km long and up to 120 m deep reservoir has a water content of 1.2 billion cubic meters and covers an area of ​​29 square kilometers. It is mainly used for power generation. The underground power station has a standard capacity of about 700 million kilowatt hours, which represents 10 percent of the recovered in France from hydropower energy and corresponds to 100% of the energy requirements of the Hautes -Alpes. Downstream are other power plants, which are also driven by a canal from the waters of the lake.

In addition, the dam is used for flood control and dam for irrigation and drinking water supply. The first ideas for the construction of a flood- regulating dam on the Durance matured after the catastrophic floods that hit in particular in the years 1843 and 1856 the lower reaches in the area around Avignon.

The Lac de Serre- Ponçon is used intensively for tourism.

On the north bank, near the campsite Roustou, stands on a small hill, the chapel of Saint- Michel. Originally the chapel was to be demolished to build the dam. But since it is above the maximum expected water level, it was not demolished. At low tide it is accessible from the shore on foot. At high water, a small island in the lake is the hill.

Surrounding cantons

The surrounding cantons belonging to the district Gap:

• Embrun
• Chorges
• Savines -le- Lac

Pictures

The dam

History of the railway lines before and after impoundment

Chapel Saint -Michel at low tide