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Clean Energy: Riva del Garda and Santa Massenza Hydroelectric Power Plants

Trentino is one of the largest producers of clean energy in Italy and Hydrotour Dolomiti is the fascinating journey through this extraordinary territory and its hydroelectric power plants, which allows you to see up close how the energy of water becomes energy for our lives. Near our village, you can visit two hydroelectric power plants that will make you understand the importance of this project, the Riva del Garda power plant and the Santa Massenza power plant. The Ponale hydroelectric power plant is a production plant located in Riva del Garda. The architectural structure of the power plant was designed by Giancarlo Maroni from Riva, d'Annunzio's architect who also designed the Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone, while the technical part was entrusted to the engineer Eduardo Model and Francesco Tommazzolli and the works began in 1925. For the time in which it was built it was a very advanced complex and the energy produced was used as far as the Po Valley and its turbines were considered the largest in the world. The power plant is in the Garda style and overlooks Lake Garda on the western side of the old port of Riva del Garda. It is located at the base of Mount Rocchetta and is reached by the colossal penstocks from Lake Ledro. The power plant has a special relationship with the lake because in the plant's designs the basin has both the function of a water reservoir to feed it and that of accumulation so as not to waste the electricity produced in abundance by thermoelectric power plants during the night when there is less demand and its market value is lower. During the night, powerful pumps thus send the water from Lake Garda back to Lake Ledro. The power plant can be visited through an engaging visit experience, with original multimedia installations, suitable for both adults and children, to discover how water is transformed into clean energy. The Santa Massenza hydroelectric plant is the most powerful plant in Trentino and part of a complex system that, through a vast network of tunnels, penstocks and hydraulic works, brings water from the peaks of Adamello to Lake Garda. The plant building is the work of the architect Giovanni Muzio, who also designed the headquarters of the Catholic University and the Palazzo della Triennale in Milan, as well as the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. The spectacular turbine hall, with a volume of over 150,000 cubic meters, is entirely dug into the rock at a depth of 600 meters. A visit to this plant is a surprising experience, through new paths, where water becomes energy.