Cadbella Lakes, Hydroelectric lake system in the Pyrenees, La Torre de Cabdella, Spain

Cabdella Lakes (Estanys de Cabdella) is a set of 27 glacial lakes in the head of the Fosca Valley, in La Torre de Cabdella, Pallars Jussà. Low walls raise the lakes between 2,037 and 2,500 m, and tunnels and channels carry their water to Estany Gento at 2,140 m, which feeds the reversible Sallente plant and the Cabdella station.

In 1911 the engineer Emili Riu launched a hydroelectric scheme in the Vall Fosca, and the company Energía Eléctrica de Cataluña was founded that year. Between 1912 and 1914 dams and channels were built to divert 27 lakes into Estany Gento, and the Cabdella plant began producing power in 1914. The reversible Sallente plant was added between 1981 and 1985.

The lakes are locally called estanys de Cabdella in Catalan, and the valley they feed is the Vall Fosca. The name Cabdella also belongs to the village and the 1914 power station below the lakes. The water collected here still drives the reversible Sallente plant, which uses surplus electricity to pump water back up.

A hiking trail about five kilometers long follows an old railway route and passes through tunnels and over the Lake Gento dam with views of the lakes and surrounding peaks. The walk is gentle and accessible for most people, though good footwear and weather-appropriate clothing are recommended for mountain conditions.

The lakes are not natural: walls were built in 27 of them between 1911 and 1914, and their altitude shifts by a few metres through the year because the dams hold them above their natural level. In mid-2015 they stored 30 hm³, 60% of capacity.