Storage

Towering at 285 m, the Grande Dixence is the tallest gravity dam in the world. It retains 400 million m3 of water. It forms the largest artificial lake in Switzerland (in volume). This concrete wall has a volume of 6 million m3 , the base is 200 m thick and the top of the dam is 700 m long, and it weighs 15 million tonnes. Inside the wall of the dam, there are 32 kilometres of tunnels and inspection chambers which allow the dam supervisors to continuously inspect the facility. The Cleuson buttress dam is a hollow gravity dam which is 87 m tall. It retains 20 million m3 of water from a catchment area including the Printze river and its influents on the left bank up to Tortin.