PARQUE NATURAL DE SOMIEDO, SPAIN
SURROUNDED BY MOUNTAINS
We're at the floodgates of Valle del Lago.
This is the catchment where the channel
that feeds the Hydraulic Power Plant of La Malva starts.
What we have to do here is confirm
that this entrance that feeds the general channel isn't blocked,
to ensure maximum capacity.
We use this stem.
It's an ancestral method.
We have to make sure that all the water penetrates the channel.
This channel holds 1,800 litres per second,
at maximum capacity.
We know each other because this is a small village.
It's easy to know everyone in a village like this.
I'm five years older than Jorge JUAN ANTONIO FERNANDEZ (EDP)
and I remember him as a child riding his bike.
Both in my case and in Juan's case, JORGE MARRON (EDP)
our grandfathers and fathers worked in the company.
I remember hearing that my grandfather started working
before the La Malva plant went into operation,
searching for land parcels and the like.
When I was a child, my father lived
in one of the houses the company had in La Riera.
I was raised there.
And I remember he worked in shifts
and my mother prepared the lunch box.
And when it was the case, we took him the food.
Normally, dinner.
We joined the company on the same day,
because we applied for the same jobs.
- I think it was on August 2... - August 2, 2004.
And we joined a company within HC Energía,
which was Explotación de Centrales.
Then, we moved on to HC Energía.
Now, the EDP has bought most of the shares HYDRAULIC POWERPLANT OF LA MALVA
and we belong to the EDP.
My idea was to stay here.
My girlfriend is from here and my idea was to stay here.
Therefore, I think I was really lucky.
I'm from here, I was born and raised here,
I spent my life hoping to join this company
and in the end I managed.
We're in Maintenance.
Electrical, mechanical maintenance...
We do a bit of everything.
There are moments when we have to work with live parts
and discharge the lines.
It's very important to trust each other.
These are very dangerous jobs.
We're very close to the water, cleaning hydraulic drains;
it has some risks
and it's important to trust each other.
La Malva operates using the waters
of the river Saliência, the river Vale and of the three lakes.
It reaches the floodgates
at the lake in Valle del Lago
and is sent through a channel
to the Hydraulic Power Plant of La Malva.
It runs through a channel excavated in the mountain
and reaches a loading chamber
with two water pipes
that feed the four units of the La Malva plant.
The first two units of this plant
went into operation in 1917.
- Hello. - How are you, César?
- Do you come from the lake? - Yes.
- Is there much snow? - A lot. It's impressive.
From half of the way to the top...
We can only make it on foot. We can't take the car.
We're at the heart of the Somiedo Natural Park
and there's a lot of wild fauna.
The Somiedo Natural Park is a Biosphere Reserve.
We're lucky enough to have glacial lakes
and typical constructions, called "cabañas de teito",
which was where the people lived in the old days
and where the cattle farmers now keep the cattle.
These thickets usually occur in the highlands,
with beautiful landscapes and surrounded by mountains.
We also have the largest reserve of Cantabrian brown bears.
Last year, around May 2013,
my father was looking through his binoculars
and observing an area where there are many bears.
He managed to see two bears and he went home to tell me.
When I checked the area he had mentioned,
I saw two more coming closer and then
the four of them approaching a female.
For 30 years I didn't see a single bear
and in the past 10 years I saw them on several occasions.
Last year, I even saw five of them together.
It's something exceptional, particularly when you see them from your window.
And the Natural Park has something very important
and that's the water of the rivers, which is what gives us our jobs.
A lot of water and highlands that accumulate a lot of snow
and that, in the summer, form glacial lakes.
The exploitation begins at the glacial lakes
and then all the rivers
are exploited by the different plants.
We're on the path to the lake,
more specifically in the area called El Gumio.
From here, it's still some 4.5 km
to Valle del Lago.
Valle del Lago is located at 1,600 metres.
It's a very beautiful tourist attraction.
The local people rely on this: the Asturian race of the valleys,
which is an indigenous breed of cows.
They raise calves and the like.
Depending on the time of year, we have to take different paths.
One takes us to the four lakes in the same day,
the valley lake and the three Saliência lakes,
to measure the levels.
It's a spectacular working day.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét