Dlouhe Strane

Dlouhe Strane is a pumped-storage station in the Jeseniky, completed in 1996 after a construction period that ran from 1978 and was suspended more than once. The upper reservoir was made by cutting the top off a mountain at 1350 metres and lining a basin about a kilometre across in it, which is the image the place is known by - a flat oval of water on a summit with a road round the rim. The machine hall is not on the surface at all: it is excavated into the rock about six hundred metres inside the mountain, holding two reversible turbines of three hundred and twenty-five megawatts each, the largest in Europe of their type when built, reached by a tunnel. Visits are guided: a bus to the upper reservoir and a trip into the underground hall. The whole site is inside a protected landscape area, which was the subject of a long argument.

History

Until 1978 the summit of Dlouhé stráně was a dome, its highest point 1,350.3 metres above sea level. That year the decision was taken to build the upper reservoir of the Dlouhé stráně pumped-storage power station here: the summit was cut off and the excavated rock used to build up the base of the reservoir, which is why the mountain is now recognised from afar by its flat top (Wikipedia, Dlouhé stráně).

What to look for

• A reservoir on a summit - a lined basin cut into a mountain top at 1350 metres.
• A hall inside the rock - the turbines six hundred metres into the mountain.
• Two 325-megawatt machines - 650 MW together, the largest reversible turbines in Europe.
• Guided access only - by bus to the rim and by tunnel to the hall.

When to go

May to September. A day.

Practical notes

Tours must be booked ahead and sell out; there is no casual access to either part. The upper reservoir is exposed and cold. Photography underground is restricted. The site is a working power station.

Nearby

Praded and Karlova Studanka are east; Velke Losiny is south-west.