Hiking : Hamlet of Vaujany

The history of the water and the hydroelectric installations will be told to you in this tour with breathtaking views.

The first hydroelectric schemes in the commune of Vaujany date from the end of the 19th century.

The context in brief: Mr. Aristide Bergès made a turbine work for the first time by the sole force of water. This is what he said: "The glaciers of the mountains, when exploited as a driving force, can be as precious a resource for their region and for the State as the coal of the depths. When one looks at the source of the thousands of horses thus obtained and their powerful service, the glaciers are no longer glaciers; it is the mine of white coal from which one draws, and how much preferable to the other. ". It is a revolution for our valleys, here electricity is produced, it is a form of modernism. Metalworking companies set up in the Romanche valley, towards Livet. They consume a lot of energy. The nature of the mountainous terrain offers many opportunities that were exploited long before the Grand Maison dam project.


In 1908, the first private hydroelectric power station of the Compagnie de l'Eau d'Olle was installed at Le Verney. The men went down to the factory to work. As the standards were not the same as today, some were electrocuted. It was not uncommon to come across someone with an amputated arm or leg. It was only in 1946 that EDF was created. Before, in the family farm, there was a light bulb in the living room, above the table, and another in the stable. The factory would close down, and switch the power to the inhabitants. There were no switches. Meters did not arrive until the 59/60s, leaving some people grumbling about paying for that light halo. The pipe that carries the water to the hydroelectric plant. The water comes from the Grand Maison dam, named after the Grand Maison which was buried when it was impounded. It passes through the mountain. Then it is regulated at the balance chimney, and finally sent to the EDF plant and ends its course in the Verney lake. A particularity: the water of the lake of Verney is "re-pumped", passes again in the mountain and finds its initial lake, that of Grand Maison. EDF spends electricity to pump the water, an operation that turns out to be surprising! Why spend electricity for an unnatural manipulation? Simply because the gain from passing it on again is greater!