Kraftwerke Zervreila AG (KWZ), based in Vals, was founded on May 17, 1952 as a partner company. Around CHF 285 million was spent during the construction years 1953 - 1958, most of which went to the country's construction industry and the machine and apparatus industry.
The large and small industrial companies in the catchment area of the concession communities benefited from a large number of different orders and job awards. At the time when the workforce was at its highest, up to 1,500 people were employed on the KWZ construction sites.
The plants were commissioned in 1958.
Text / Source: Kraftwerke Zervreila AG, Vadianstrasse 59, 9000 St. Gallen
The Zervreilasee, also spelled Zerfreilasee, is a reservoir in the municipality of Vals in the canton of Graubünden. The lake is at the back of the Vals valley between the peaks of the Fanellhorn, Zervreilahorn and Frunthorn at an altitude of 1862 meters above sea level. The lake got its name from the village of Zervreila, which was flooded by the damming.
The Zerfreila reservoir is fed by the Canalbach, the Hornbach, the Finsterbach and the Valser Rhein, among others, with the latter also draining away after the dam wall. The gravity dam on the northeastern shore of the lake was built in the 1960s and is 151m high. Depending on the water level, Lake Zervreila is around four kilometers long.