Le Pouget (power station)
| Le Pouget | |
|---|---|
Le Pouget power station alongside the Tarn, with connecting it to the Lac de Saint-Amans
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| Country | France |
| Location | Le Truel |
| Coordinates | 44°3′34.92″N 2°46′12.0″E / 44.0597000°N 2.770000°ECoordinates: 44°3′34.92″N 2°46′12.0″E / 44.0597000°N 2.770000°E |
| Operator(s) | EDF |
| Pumped-storage power station | |
| Upper reservoir | Lac de Villefranche-de-Panat, Lac de Saint-Amans. Connected to Lac de Pareloup. |
| 1,2 km | |
| Lower reservoir | River Tarn |
| Hydraulic head | 461.2 m |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 372.5MW |
Le Pouget is a hydroelectric power station located at Le Truel, on the River Tarn, in the department of Aveyron in France. It uses the difference in height between the artificial lakes of Villefranche-de-Panat and Pareloup on the Lévézou plateau and the river 500m below. It ranks as the 16th largest station in France. It is part of the complex system that connects the rivers Alrance, Ceor, Viaur, Bage and Violou with the Tarn.
In addition to its 440MW generating capacity it houses a small pumping station that can return 6.6m³/s of water from the Tarn to its header reservoir.
The catchment of this system is on the Lévézou plateau- which is at the western end of the Grandes Causses. The plateau lies between 700m and 900m and consist of granite rocks. It is a landscape of gentle valleys, drained to the north by the Ceor, Viaur, Bage and Violou which flow towards Rodez, and to the south by the Alrance and the Ruisseau de Asseynes which fall steeply into the Tarn. To the south, exploiting a geological fault is the River Tarn which is at 265m altitude, and to the south of the river the land rises again to over 600m. The area is called Les Raspes de Tarn- 30 km to the east is the A75 autoroute and the Viaduc de Millau which crosses the Tarn and Dourdan at the level of the plateau. Further east is the town of Millau and the Karst landscape of the Gorges du Tarn. The impervious granites of the Lévézou make this a suitable location for water capture.
The catchment area of Le Pouget is extensive. The Alrance valley was dammed at Villefranche-de-Panat, creating the 197 hectare Lac de Villefranche-de-Panat. The dam at Villefranche is 17.10 m high and holds back 8.66 hm3 of usable water. This passes by a 5.3 km underground tunnel to the small 11 ha Lac de Saint-Amans reservoir, and then by steel the last 1.2 km to Le Pouget.
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Wikipedia