OLD WAGAKAWA HYDRO POWER STATION [JP]

Exploration #289 The Old Wagakawa Hydroelectric Power Station. The Old Wagakawa Hydroelectric Power Station in Iwate Prefecture began operating in 1940 as a private industrial power plant. Fed by the Oarasawa Dam, it generated electricity until the Yuda Dam project made the original system obsolete in the 1960s.

The plant was built for industrial use, with an authorised output of 15,500 kW produced by two generating units. Water from the Oarasawa Dam was carried to the turbines, converting the force of the river into electricity. Its working life was relatively short. Construction of the much larger Yuda Dam transformed the entire valley. As the new reservoir expanded, the Oarasawa Dam was submerged and the old power station lost its water supply. A replacement Wagakawa power plant began operating in December 1963, while the former station was abandoned and its generators and intake equipment were removed.

What remains is a striking piece of Japanese industrial archaeology. The empty turbine hall still shows the two deep generator openings, severed pipes and fragments of electrical equipment. Tall decaying windows filter the daylight like stained glass, giving the building an unexpectedly monumental atmosphere.

More than half a century after closure, the abandoned Wagakawa power station survives as a rare record of pre-war hydroelectric engineering and of the huge infrastructure changes brought by the Yuda Dam.