Černé Jezero Hydroelectric Power Plant
Who would have expected a small hydroelectric power plant to be built right next to Black Lake? You’ll find this power source between Black Lake and the Pod Černým jezerem reservoir near the village of Hamry. Moreover, it is the first pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant in Bohemia.
Originally built as a pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant on Black Lake, it is yet another example of the ingenuity of 20th-century Czech engineers and energy specialists. The largest lake in the Czech Republic, Černé Lake in the Šumava Mountains, inspired the chief engineer of the Provincial Office in Prague in the 1920s to build the first pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant in what was then Czechoslovakia. The investor was Západočeské elektrárny, and the designer and technology supplier was Škoda Works in Plzeň. Construction of this challenging project under difficult natural conditions took only one year and three-quarters, and the acquisition cost reached 10 million CZK. The power plant was commissioned on December 6, 1930.
