Dams and Power Plants of the Antrona Valley
About
The European electricity industry started in Milan in June 1883, when in Santa Radegonda street a 400 Kw thermoelectric power plant was set up on the basis of four dynamos, to light some thousend of incandescent lamps in private buildings.
In 1885 the first 68 Kw hydroelectric plant at Tivoli went into service for the third parties energy supply.
In 1899 a bold man, Ignazio Ceretti, sensed the advantages of the rising electricity industry and set up a 400 HP plant on the Ovesca stream, to assure a sufficient supply of energy to the new rolling mill plant.
Afterwars, two other small plants on the Brevettola brook, a tributary of the Ovesca, integrated the plant' s energy demand.
The Edison Company was operating in the Antrona (1240 mt.) valley from the very beginning under the cover-up name of "Società Forze Idrauliche Valle Antrona".
The three big plants covering the slope gradient in a sequence were functionally devised and with the passing of time did not undergo any substantial modification, but only periodical maintenance works.
Till today the Campliccioli plant is operational and uses the waters of the Cingino (2044 mt.) reservoir fed by the Antigine and Troncone streams and the waters of the Banella brook into the Camposecco (2077 mt.) reservoir, returning them to the Campliccioli (1375 mt.) lake (where stands the highest dam of the Ossola: 80 m).
From here the waters are intercepted (like the underneath Antrona lake and the Cavalli lake (1490 mt.) on the Loranco stream) and utilized at Rovesca in three separate drops.
The waters are received directly from the drainage, are added to the waters of the Ovesca and via a long conduct are utilized at Pallanzeno and then are returned to the Toce river.
Let us remember the importance for the Antrona valleys inhabitants of the construction, the running and the maintenance of the hydroelectric plants.
The valley was very poor: the meagre tillable land was wrung out of the mountain and was terraced by strenuous toil; the valley dwellers then started producing charcoal (during the period of the iron ore processing) and became before long such excellent experts to even find a seasonal work slogging their way to Savoy, Switzeriand and France.
The road connection to the bottom of the valley was made later on, in 1883, even though it had been requested by the municipalities nearly 30 years before. The main road to the bottom of the valley meant welfare to the dwellers: some of them found a job in the steel industries and chemical plants of Villadossola and in the railway yards of the Sempione tunnel.
The hydroelectric building yards were obviously appreciated by the dwellers who could find a job at the house door. Nowadays the complete automation of the plant is causing a drastic reduction of the manpower employed and new forms of enterprise must be sought in order to preserve and develop the harmony of the valley.
In 1885 the first 68 Kw hydroelectric plant at Tivoli went into service for the third parties energy supply.
In 1899 a bold man, Ignazio Ceretti, sensed the advantages of the rising electricity industry and set up a 400 HP plant on the Ovesca stream, to assure a sufficient supply of energy to the new rolling mill plant.
Afterwars, two other small plants on the Brevettola brook, a tributary of the Ovesca, integrated the plant' s energy demand.
The Edison Company was operating in the Antrona (1240 mt.) valley from the very beginning under the cover-up name of "Società Forze Idrauliche Valle Antrona".
The three big plants covering the slope gradient in a sequence were functionally devised and with the passing of time did not undergo any substantial modification, but only periodical maintenance works.
Till today the Campliccioli plant is operational and uses the waters of the Cingino (2044 mt.) reservoir fed by the Antigine and Troncone streams and the waters of the Banella brook into the Camposecco (2077 mt.) reservoir, returning them to the Campliccioli (1375 mt.) lake (where stands the highest dam of the Ossola: 80 m).
From here the waters are intercepted (like the underneath Antrona lake and the Cavalli lake (1490 mt.) on the Loranco stream) and utilized at Rovesca in three separate drops.
The waters are received directly from the drainage, are added to the waters of the Ovesca and via a long conduct are utilized at Pallanzeno and then are returned to the Toce river.
Let us remember the importance for the Antrona valleys inhabitants of the construction, the running and the maintenance of the hydroelectric plants.
The valley was very poor: the meagre tillable land was wrung out of the mountain and was terraced by strenuous toil; the valley dwellers then started producing charcoal (during the period of the iron ore processing) and became before long such excellent experts to even find a seasonal work slogging their way to Savoy, Switzeriand and France.
The road connection to the bottom of the valley was made later on, in 1883, even though it had been requested by the municipalities nearly 30 years before. The main road to the bottom of the valley meant welfare to the dwellers: some of them found a job in the steel industries and chemical plants of Villadossola and in the railway yards of the Sempione tunnel.
The hydroelectric building yards were obviously appreciated by the dwellers who could find a job at the house door. Nowadays the complete automation of the plant is causing a drastic reduction of the manpower employed and new forms of enterprise must be sought in order to preserve and develop the harmony of the valley.