The Gabriel y Galán reservoir is a reservoir in Spain, formed by the damming of the waters of the Alagón River. It is located in the north of the province of Cáceres, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It receives its name in homage to the Salamanca poet José María Gabriel y Galán at the request of his relatives Cruz García Gascón and Fernando García de la Cruz y Jiménez, majority landowners of the domains belonging to the old manor of the Casa de Alba, Granadilla, who gave the most of the land on which the reservoir is built.
After a series of projects —the first dated from 1902 work on the reservoir began at the end of 1952, during the Franco dictatorship, and was completed in 1961.
The reservoir backs up the waters of the Alagón, with a capacity of 924 hm³, serving for the regulation of the channel, drinking water supply, and irrigation, which are benefited by municipalities that are quite far away. Due to mismanagement at the time, the town of Guijo de Granadilla does not even have one hectare of irrigation.
It also produces energy. To take advantage of the strength of these waters, one of the reversible hydroelectric plants available to this municipality was set up here. This one in particular produces 110 MW of electricity. The other is located downstream, in the Guijo de Granadilla reservoir, also reversible and with the power to generate 52 MW of electricity.
GPS coordinates: 40°14′53″N 6°07′41″W
How to get to?
From Mérida 1 hr 45 min (182 km) via A-66
From Cáceres 1 hr 11 min (112 km) via A-66
From Badajoz 2 hr 10 min (203 km) via N-523 and A-66
From Plasencia 30 min (37.5 km) via A-66
From Madrid 2 hr 51 min (285 km) via A-5
