Wasserkraft und Hochspannung

"In 1951 I came from the lowlands to the SafienTal as a construction manager for the tunnel from Vals (Peil) to the Safiental (Wanna). The challenge of tunnel construction particularly appealed to me, the Zervreila power plant was one of the first and the largest in Graubünden at the time. You never know exactly what kind of rock you will encounter at the next tunnel tee, so our wooden installations were often destroyed again. Then the tunnel was reinforced with steel and concrete. Especially the blasts during tunnelling were dangerous, rarely there were also deaths. The breakthrough was then a correspondingly big event, the coin with the patron saint of mining ‹Santa Barbara› I still own today."

They are located under a high-voltage pylon of the Zervreila power plants. This power line with a voltage of 150 kilovolts carries the electricity from the Zervreila headquarters in Vals and Safien Platz to the main site in Rothenbrunnen.

The Zervreila power plants were built between 1951 and 1958. From Zervreilastausee in Vals via Safiental to Rothenbrunnen in Domleschg, the water is channelled through 33 kilometres of tunnels and used four times. Electricity is produced for about 110,000 households, which corresponds to 565 million kWh.

Two tunnels lead through the Heinzenberg. One leads from Safien Platz to the Central Rothenbrunnen, which also generates the most electricity (²/³ of the total amount of electricity) due to the highest gradient of 673 meters. The other, older tunnel leads from Lake Egschi to the Central Realta in Rothenbrunnen. For the Safien Valley and especially Vals, the Zervreila power plants are important sources of electricity.

However, the two valleys only require a small part of the energy produced, the remaining amount is fed into the national power grid. However, if the Zervreila power plants are not in operation, for example due to a revision, the electricity from Rothenbrunnen flows "backwards" and thus supplies the two valleys with electricity. For Vals, rothenbrunnen's high-voltage line is the only connection to the national power grid.