About Graubuenden Dam

Graubünden — the largest Swiss canton by area and the only officially trilingual canton, using German, Romansh, and Italian — contains some of the most geographically diverse and hydropower-rich terrain in the Alps. The canton's hydropower reservoirs have a total storage capacity of approximately 2,100 GWh (around 1,785 hm³), making Graubünden the second most important region in Switzerland after Wallis. The Rhine, Inn (En), and Adda river systems all have their headwaters in Graubünden, draining respectively to the North Sea, the Danube (via the Black Sea), and the Adriatic — the only point in Europe where three major continental drainage divides meet. The Albigna dam in the Bregaglia valley, an arch dam built into crystalline granite, and the Punt dal Gall (Livigno) dam on the Inn/En river — which also supplies the Italian side of the Reschensee complex — are among the signature structures. The Lago di Lei, shared with Italy, is fed by the Valle di Lei and operated jointly by Swiss and Italian utilities, an example of the transboundary hydropower cooperation that characterises Alpine energy management. Graubünden receives substantial snowfall in winter across its high passes — including the famous Engadine valley around St Moritz — and snowmelt dominates reservoir refill in May and June each year. Engadine's Inn valley contributes flow to the Austrian Inn and ultimately the Danube, giving Graubünden an unusually large hydrological footprint for a landlocked Alpine canton. Major operators include Kraftwerke Hinterrhein (KHR), Engadiner Kraftwerke, and Repower.