Santa Massenza hydroelectric plant, Italy

The Santa Massenza plant is a reservoir hydroelectric power station, part of a hydroelectric complex that utilizes a good portion of the waters from the Sarca river basin in the province of Trento to produce energy.

The entire hydroelectric complex was realized on the initiative of the Società Idroelettrica Sarca Molveno and began operation in 1953. The technical significance of the work, notable even today, was tremendous for its time, representing the largest hydroelectric power station in Europe at the time and remaining today the most powerful among those entirely built in tunnels.

This plant is the first of about ten power stations with a total capacity of 655,000 kVA and an average annual output of over 1,400 billion kWh. The project is completed by two intakes and two canal bridges over the Campiglio and Nambrone streams, plus four sections of the diversion tunnel totaling 7,400 meters in length.