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Jai Ganesh

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Itaipu Dam

Itaipu Dam

Gist

The world's largest hydroelectric power plant is on the Paraná River between Paraguay and Brazil. The Itaipú Dam is capable of producing 14,000 megawatts of power. The reservoir behind the dam formed in 1982 and covers 1,350 square kilometers. The entire dam is nearly 8 kilometers long.

The Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam is located on the Paraná River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The structure which serves to generate power is about 7.9 km long, with a maximum height of 196 m.

Summary

Itaipú Dam is a hollow gravity dam on the Alto (Upper) Paraná River at the Brazil-Paraguay border. It is located north of the town of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

In terms of power output, Itaipú Dam is one of the world’s largest hydroelectric projects. Its 20 massive turbine generators, located in the powerhouse at the base of the dam, are capable of generating 14,000 megawatts of electricity. Built as a joint venture by Paraguay and Brazil, the complex of dams and spillways curves across almost 8 km (5 miles) of the Alto Paraná River. The dam itself, built between 1975 and 1982, is 196 metres (643 feet) high and consists of large concrete segments joined to form a hollow chamber. The upstream face is supported by two buttresses, and the downstream face is a simple concrete slab. It is one of the highest and largest hollow gravity dams in the world. Its reservoir stretches northward for about 160 km (100 miles), and it has totally submerged the formerly spectacular Guaíra Falls.

Details

The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. It is the third-largest hydroelectric dam in the world in terms of produced energy.

The name "Itaipu" was taken from an island that existed near the construction site. In the Guarani language, Itaipu means "the sounding stone." As of 2020, the Itaipu Dam's hydroelectric power plant produced the second-largest amount of electricity of any hydroelectric power plant in the world, with its electricity production being only surpassed by the Three Gorges Dam plant in China. Additionally, Itaipu also holds the 45th largest reservoir in the world.

With its construction completed in 1984, it is a binational undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the border between the two countries, 15 km (9.3 mi) north of the Friendship Bridge. The project ranges from Foz do Iguaçu, in Brazil, and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, in the south to Guaíra and Salto del Guairá in the north. The installed generation capacity of the plant is 14 GW, with 20 generating units providing 700 MW each with a hydraulic design head of 118 metres (387 ft). In 2016, the plant employed 3038 workers.

Of the twenty generator units currently installed, ten generate at 50 Hz for Paraguay and ten generate at 60 Hz for Brazil. Since the output capacity of the Paraguayan generators far exceeds the load in Paraguay, most of their production is exported directly to the Brazilian side, from where two 600 kV HVDC lines, each approximately 800 kilometres (500 mi) long, carry the majority of the energy to the São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro region where the terminal equipment converts the power to 60 Hz.

Additional Information

The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric (making electricity by the movement of water) dam on the Paraná River, on the border between Brazil and Paraguay.

It is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. It is the world's second largest dam behind the Three Gorges Dam and is 7919 metres long and 196 metres high. It is the second-largest power plant in the world by nameplate capacity and the largest by power production in 2015-2016.

The Itaipu Dam is owned by the Brazilian Government.

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