The history of water power-engineering in the territory of the Slupia catchment starts at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Nevertheless, before construction of the first water power plant, since the half of the 19th century works on using the river power were conducted. Scientific research proved that this area presented uniquely favourable hydrological and geological conditions in terms of building water plants. A pioneer water power plant was Struga that was established in 1896 near the sawmill in Soszyca. At the same time, this is the oldest water power structure in Europe that has been fully operative up to this day. They began to build the next plant on Slupia in 1912 in Galaznia Mala. The latest technical solutions at that moment were applied during the construction; canals transporting water from a long distance to the plant and a system of adits with reinforced-concrete pipelines (200 centimetres wide in diameter).

This largest water power plant on Slupia was ready for use in 1914. Development principles elaborated during the construction were later followed by engineers over many years for building another water power structures. As since 2004 the company Enwod have allowed to visit all the power plants across the Slupia basin, tourist groups sightseeing the Slupia Valley Landscape Park often step into historic objects belonging to the power system. Tourists have an opportunity to see all the old equipment and machines that have been carefully maintained so as to remain in a perfect technical condition – they are fully operative even now.

An important date in the history of Slupsk water power plants was 1945. The end of the Second World War brought about warfare destruction of many objects and on-water constructions; many of them became useless due to disassembly and theft of equipment committed by the Red Army. Many weirs and locks damming water were damaged and reservoirs were silted up and littered. In the 50s and 60s another power plants were opened, they were connected to the power system one by one. In the 70s a programme of bringing water power solutions back to life in the area of Slupsk was initiated.

Water power plants on Słupia, because of its construction, maintenance and service, can be divided into 2 main groups: dam (reservoir) power plants, e.g. Krzynia, Strzegomino and Gałąźnia Mała and weir (flow-through) power plants, e.g. Skarszów and Struga. Dam (reservoir) power plants have large 100-hectare reservoirs formed as a result of constructing embankment dams. Weir (flow-through) power plants are equipped with a canal between a regulation weir and a power station building. Canals can be really long and often they are run along a hillside; one shore functions as a dike then.

Power plant reservoirs have a great regular impact on keeping a proper level of groundwater. This enables large forest and agricultural areas in the valley of Slupia to be properly exploited. An appropriate land improvement of meadows and a floor control zone with a regulating function of reservoirs made it several times possible to reduce the danger for the city and nearby areas. A regular level of water in reservoirs protects the system of the river catchment against erosion, allows brooding sites for water birds and nature habitats to exist and is a leisure place for people.

With an intentional and reasonable German post-war economy (difficulties after the First World War in supplying coal and petroleum) today’s Slupia is the most efficient river of Middle Pomerania in terms of power-engineering. At the same time, there was formed the best known “cascade of Slupia”, also recognised for its landscape and nature qualities. Technical infrastructure of water power stations, dam reservoirs, canals and damming constructions perfectly match the landscape and undoubtedly belong to the most beautiful places of the Slupia Valley Landscape Park. In the river basin there are 5 water power plants that we would like to present to you on the following pages.