The largest hydroelectric dam in the world is the Itaipu Dam. This dam represents the great efforts and accomplishments of two neighboring countries Brazil and Paraguay. The Itaipu Dam’s construction was started in 1975 and it was completed on 1991. The dam was built on the Parana River.
It is having 18 power generating units, which have capacity of generating a total production of 12,600 MW and a reliable output of 75 million MWh a year. The energy production of Itaipu had broken so many records in the past years after the last unit was commissioned in 1991. In 1995 its power production was 77,212,396 MWh and in 1996 it got more than the mentioned figure and new record will be around the 80 million MWh a year mark.
The largeness of the project can be explained by the fact that in 1995 Itaipu alone supplied 25% of the energy to Brazil and 78% to Paraguay. This power plant is the major tourist attraction in the Foz do Iguacu area, having received around 9 million visitors from 162 countries. Foz do Iguacu city of Brazil is located at the Western tip of Parana State right by the border with Paraguay and Argentina.
Outline of the Project
The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is located 14 km North of the International Bridge linking the cities of Foz do Iguacu, Brazil and Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, the area is consists of a series of various dams a total distance of 7.744 meters with a crest elevation of 225 meters.
Location of the Powerhouse is right at the toe of the dam, most part of it is on the riverbed and rest is on the Diversion Channel. Total capacity of the Power plant is 12,600 MW and its having 18 generating units each of them make 700MW. From these 18 generating units 15 are located in the main Powerhouse and the remaining three on the Diversion Channel. Its Spillway is located on the right bank having 14-segmented sluice gates with a total discharge rate of 62,200 cubic meters per second. The concrete main dam is of the hollow gravity type and is connected to the Spillway by a concrete buttress type wing dam, which continues thereon as a small cardhfill dike. A rock fill dam is linked to the main dam on the left bank and at other end earth fill dam is linked. To build the main dam wall and the Powerhouse the river was diverted through a Diversion Channel on the left bank.
Amazing Facts about Itaipu
The volumes of construction in Itaipu are amazing. The volume of the iron and steel which is used in the structure of the dam is enough to build 380 Eiffel Towers, the volume of concrete used in Itaipu embody 15 times the volume utilized to build the Channel Tunnel between France and England.
Wonder of the Modern World
The Itaipu Dam is one the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The American Society of civil Engineers (ASCE) conducted a worldwide survey and it was published in 1995 that survey is having a cover article of the North American “ Popular Mechanics”. In that article its written that to build this dam workers had re-enacted a labor of Hercules, the course of the 7th biggest river in the world was shifted and more than 50 million tons of earth and rock was removed.
But the true wonderful thing in Itaipu is its Powerhouse, a single building that puts out 12,600 megawatts.
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