Climate: global warming undermines a hydroelectric dam in Haute-Savoie

The Mer de Glace in Chamonix (Haute-Savoie), the largest glacier in France. From the outside, nothing suggests what is hidden under the tons of snow, a unique installation, a hydroelectric power station, today threatened by global warming. Only a cable car provides access. On arrival under the ice giant, it is here that the water is captured at an altitude of 1,560 meters to supply the hydroelectric power station.

Collect water below

The plant is running full diet summer, when the ice melts. It can supply 50,000 homes with electricity. But today, its operation is threatened by the inexorable retreat of the glacier. Last year, in just six months, he melted 16 meters. “We realize that it is accelerating because we have increasingly hot summers and then even very dry winters”notes Luc Moreau, glaciologist. A race against time has begun for EDF, which must recover the water below in order to continue using the plant.