Rance (river)

Tidal power plant at the mouth of the Rance River

The Rance ( Breton Renk ) is a river in France in the Brittany region. It rises near Collinée in the department of Cotes -d'Armor and ends after 103 kilometers between Dinard and Saint- Malo in the Ille -et -Vilaine in the English Channel.

River sections

Headwaters between the source and Évran

Here a seven- kilometer-long reservoir with a drainage of about five million cubic meters of water was built in the 1930s by the construction of the storage plant of Rophemel near the city Caulnes.

Channeled flow between Évran and Lyvet

In Évran the Rance reached the Canal d' Ille -et -Rance, which establishes a navigable link between Rennes and Saint- Malo and Dinan passes by. The Rance is navigable as a channelized portion of the river channel and thus in this section. The channel but is now only used by tourists sports and houseboats. Only seaworthy ships / boats that start about five kilometers north-east of Dinan preferred sea -water lock happen Châtelier at Lyvet and continue into the mouth region.

Estuary between Lyvet and the tidal power plant Dinard

The strong tidal differences of twelve meters ( at spring tides up to 16 meters ) have created a very deep mouth area. He is dammed by a 750 m long barrage to a 22 -square-mile estuary area. A large lock chamber allowing boats may pass.

The tidal power plant

The strong tidal differences at the mouth are now used for a tidal power plant, the " Usine de la Rance marémotrice ". The power plant was completed in 1966, the first thoughts go back to Gérard Boisnoer who suggested such use in 1921. The 24 turbines with a combined capacity of 240 MW to produce 600 million kilowatt hours of electricity, which is about 3% of the electricity needs of Brittany annually.

Tributaries

The most important tributaries of the Rance, are disclosed in the flow direction:

  • Frémeur (left)
  • Neal (right)
  • Hac (right)
  • Guinefort (left)
  • Linon (right)

Places on the river

  • In the department of Côtes- d'Armor: Collinée
  • Caulnes
  • Léhon
  • Dinan
  • Saint- Suliac
  • Saint -Jouan -des- Guérets
  • Dinard
  • Saint- Malo
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