From the left side of the commune of Tălmaciu opens a road that crosses Valea Sadului, a landscape that attracts many tourists. The Sadu River, a tributary of Cibin, flows between the mountains of Lotrului and Cibinului and hosts the first hydroelectric plant built in 1896 in our country, a small plant for the needs of the city of Sibiu.
Along the river, other hydropower plants have been added, and the largest of them, Sadu V, with an installed power of 15.4 MW, is the first built during the communist era. The 62 m high reservoir dam is the first in the country and its construction required 50,000 m³ of reinforced concrete, the equivalent of 200 trains with 50 wagons each.
It is worth noting that the five hydropower plants along Valea Sadului are continuously supplied with the same water from the dam, even in the absence of rain or snow for a year.
Near the dam is the Gâtu Berbecului cabin, located at an altitude of 1175 m, 40 km away from Tălmaciu, with 53 places available for accommodation.
Source: Bucharest-Sibiu (Ministry of Tourism, 1977)
