China is the largest hydroelectric power. And the main suppliers of news from the hydropower sector: it is here that more and more powerful hydroelectric power stations appear, block rivers with whole cascades of stations, relocate the population in cities ... But the share of renewable energy in the energy consumption structure of the world's largest economies is much less than 50%. However, the real Mecca of hydropower is Latin America, where individual countries provide themselves with electricity entirely through the use of water energy.
PARAGUAY: FOR YOURSELF AND "THAT GUY"
Experts recognize that rivers are one of the most important natural resources of Latin America. About 60% of the region's area is occupied by the basins of the world's largest rivers. Some of them cross several states at once: the Amazon - seven, La Plata - five. By availability water resources Latin America (accounting for about 1/4 of the world's runoff) ranks first among the five continents in terms of runoff per 1 square kilometer of territory and per capita.
Oil and gas is the basis of life for Russians. Therefore, life in Paraguay makes an indelible impression on many of our compatriots. In everyday life, wood and charcoal are used as fuel. Cars are filled with alcohol, and all (that is, 100%) electricity is generated at hydroelectric power stations.
True, the hydroelectric miracle did not happen in one day. Until the 1960s, the scarcity and high cost of electricity kept economic development Paraguay. In 1968, power engineers launched the first hydroelectric power station - on the Arkaray River. In the early 1970s, Paraguay was already supplying electricity to neighboring countries. And then the authorities made several decisions that turned Paraguay into the main exporter of electricity in South America.
In 1974, an agreement was signed with Brazil to build the Itaipu hydroelectric power station on the Parana River. The cost of construction is 20 billion dollars. The station went into operation in 1984. In 1991, it reached its full capacity - 12.6 GW, later the HPP's capacity was increased. Under the terms of an intergovernmental agreement, more than half of the electricity is exported to Brazil. In the mid-1990s, the leadership of Paraguay launched another mega-station - the Yasireta hydroelectric power station, which is located on the Parana River below Itaipu. This time in partnership with the Argentine authorities.
ONLY THE FACTS
1. HPP Itaipu is located 20 km from the city of Foz do Iguacu on the border of Paraguay and Brazil:
The dam is 7235 meters long, 400 meters wide, 196 meters high;
The dam is equipped with a fish channel;
The station has 20 generators, its capacity is 14 GW;
The HPP dam formed a relatively small reservoir: 170 km long, 7 to 12 km wide;
During construction, the authorities resettled more than 10,000 residents;
During construction, the cost of the project has tripled: from 4.4 billion to 15.3 billion dollars.
In November 2009, a thunderstorm damaged the power lines that come from the hydroelectric power station - a power outage affected more than 50 million people in Brazil and almost the entire territory of Paraguay.
2. HPP Yasireta is located 320 km from the capital of Paraguay Asunción, on the border with Argentina:
The length of the dam, together with the dams on the coast, exceeds 65 km, which makes it one of the longest hydraulic structures in the world;
20 generators with a total capacity of 3.1 GW are installed in the engine room;
The cost of the project has exceeded 10 billion dollars, which is five times higher than the initial estimates;
The construction of the hydroelectric power station required the resettlement of more than 50,000 people.
BRAZIL: INSPIRED BY AVATAR
Last summer, the Supreme Court of Brazil still supported the continuation of the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rainforest. Previously, construction was stopped due to protests by the natives. The Indians of the Amazon basin, dissatisfied with the construction, were supported by many artists. Including director James Cameron, who compared the situation in Brazil with the plot of his film Avatar.
Local residents say that after the construction of the dam and hydroelectric power station, they will not be able to lead their traditional way of life. The Brazilian government has its own truth: the power of the hydroelectric power plant is 11 GW. When it is completed, it will be the third in the world after China's Three Gorges on the Yangtze and the Itaipu hydroelectric power station on Brazil's border with neighboring Paraguay. According to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the station is needed to meet the needs of the country's population, whose welfare and needs are growing.
Today, the main source of electricity in Brazil is already the hydropower complex. Hydroelectric power plants account for approximately 90% of all electricity generated in the country. The rest is generated by thermal power plants, geothermal stations and the only nuclear power plant, Angra dos Reis.
Several large hydroelectric power plants have been built in Brazil. Among them, the Urubupunga energy complex (4.6 GW) on the Parana River, including the Ilha Solteira and Zupia hydroelectric power plants, the Marimbondu and Furnas hydroelectric power plants (with a capacity of over 1 GW) on the Rio Grande, Cubatan on Tiet and Paulo Afonso on the river San Francisco, one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world - Tucurui on the Tocantins River, with a capacity of 8.3 GW. Construction of two large hydroelectric power plants on the Madeira River in the Amazon - Santo Antonio and Girau, each with a capacity of more than 3 GW, is being completed.
VENEZUELA HAS THE THIRD HIGHEST HPP IN THE WORLD
We have already talked about the use of hydropower in Brazil and Paraguay. But other countries South America have very tempting opportunities for the construction of hydroelectric power plants.
Another pearl of the hydropower industry in South America is the Guri hydroelectric power station, which is located in Venezuela. Its capacity is 10.2 GW, the third in the world (after China's Three Gorges and Itaipu). Guri began to build back in 1963. Its construction took place in stages. Even after the launch of the station, from time to time it undergoes renovations, rebuilding, as well as inevitable repairs. Since 2000, the HPP has been undergoing reconstruction. In particular, five turbines were replaced at the station. IN Lately HPP Guri is the main source of energy in Venezuela. Other hydroelectric power plants in the country cover 20% of all electricity consumed.
In Mexico, water resources are cut off from the main areas of their consumption. Over 80% of water resources are concentrated in the lowland part, which suffers from excessive moisture. The hinterland, where the bulk of the population lives, experiences chronic water shortages. The hydropower potential of Mexican rivers (in the tropical part of the coastal regions) is estimated at 10 GW. Hydropower in Mexico is developing very actively, the largest hydroelectric power station in the country is Chicoasen with a capacity of 2.4 GW with a dam 261 m high.
Argentine rivers have even greater economic hydro potential. It is estimated at 30 GW. Most of it falls on the Paraná river basin in Uruguay and the Patagonia river. The Parana is the second longest and largest river in South America. On this moment plays a big role in economic life Argentina and as a navigable artery, and as a source of electricity and water supply. But new large hydropower projects are planned to be implemented in the south of the country, in particular, on the Santa Cruz River, it was decided to build two hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of more than 2 GW.
Other countries in the region also have serious plans in hydropower. Thus, in Ecuador, the 1.5 GW Coca Kodo Sinclair hydroelectric project is being implemented, which should provide more than a third of the country's electricity needs. In Chile, the construction of the Hydro Aisen cascade is planned, consisting of 5 hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 2.7 GW.
In the language of the local Guarani Indian tribe, Itaipu means "Singing Stones". Planning for the world's largest hydroelectric power plant began in the mid-1960s, when it was decided to put a barrier on the 170-kilometer section of the Parana River, which marked the border between Brazil and Paraguay, between two waterfalls: Seti Quedas and Iguazu. On April 26, 1973, the President of Brazil - the Medici and Paraguay - Stroessner signed a contract for the construction of a giant complex, according to which Brazil assumed the main burden of financing this extremely expensive mega-project. In return, Paraguay pledged to supply Brazil with free electricity until it reimburses construction costs. In general, the construction of Itaipu cost $20 billion.
Nearly 30,000 people worked on the construction of the dam. They had to pour enough concrete into it to rebuild a city like Rio de Janeiro. And from the steel and iron spent on the frame of the structure, it would be possible to build another 380 eiffel towers. The main wall of the dam with a height of 196 m is equal to a 65-storey skyscraper.
The Itaipu Dam was completed on October 13, 1983. In just 2 weeks, its reservoir was already filled to a depth of 100 m. As soon as the Itaipu reservoir was full, a giant turbine was started and electricity production began. Since 1991, 18 huge turbines have been put into operation, and the power plant began to operate at full capacity, producing 14,000 MW of electricity at the output. In 2007, 2 more turbines were put into operation. Every second, 62,200 cu. m of water. One such turbine is capable of providing electricity to a city with 1.5 million people.
The main wall of the Itaipu Dam is 196 m high and 7.7 km long. The power plant with 20 turbines is entirely built into the central part of the dam. Its length is 968 m, width 100 m and height 112 m! The plant has a static turbine diameter of 16 m. In 2008, the plant set a world record for the amount of electricity generated in a calendar year, generating 94,684 kWh, twice the previous record. Iguazu's only competitor is the Three Gorges Power Plant on the Yangtze River in China.
Today, the Iguazu hydroelectric power plant produces most of the energy consumed by Brazil and Paraguay. The shores of the formed reservoir with an area of 1400 sq. km began to attract tourists and turned into a very popular recreation area.
Data
- Name: Officially, the Itaipu Dam is called Binational (“Binational”).
- Dimensions: The dam wall is 7.7 km long and 196 m high. It holds a water column of 190 m deep. Under normal conditions, the Itaipu reservoir is 100 m deep at its deepest point. The dam holds 29 million cubic meters. m of water.
- Dimensions of the reservoir: The area of the artificial reservoir is 1460 square meters. km. Its length is 170 km, width is 7-12 km.
- Mass of water: Approximately 62,200 cubic meters pass through 20 turbines. m of water per second, at the output it gives 1,4,000 MW of electricity. In 2008, Itaipu set a new world record for electricity generation in a calendar year: almost 95 billion kWh.
- Building materials: About 15.57 million cubic meters went to the Itaipu complex. m of concrete.
Water has long been used by people as one of the main sources of energy. The inventions opened up broad prospects for the modernization of agricultural work, and the discovery of electricity and the creation of the first electric generators became a defining milestone in scientific and technological progress. The first power plant scheme was developed in 1878 in Cragsad (Northumberland) English engineer George Armstrong. And the first in the world power station appeared at Niagara Falls in 1881. In our review, we will talk about the most ambitious projects that humanity has managed to implement over the next century.
Today, hydroelectric power plants provide 16% of the world's electricity production, so it is difficult to overestimate their importance for the whole world. Among the leading countries in hydropower are China, Paraguay, Norway, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, Venezuela.
The largest power plant in the world is China's Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in Hubei Province. Its capacity is 22,500 MW, its dimensions are 2.335 m in length and 181 m in height. It took so much concrete and steel to build it that 63 Eiffel Towers could easily be built from this amount. The project to create a dam cost the state $ 22.5 billion, and today the Three Gorges is one of the main achievements of engineering in China. Ecologists admit that the construction of the dam had a negative impact on the life of fish in the Yangtze River, but it made it possible to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases and dust emitted into the atmosphere, since before that the lion's share of energy was produced by burning coal.
The most powerful power plant in the world "Itaipu"- built on the Parana River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. Its annual yield averages 91-95 billion kWh, which is much higher than that of the Three Gorges. Hydropower provides 90% of Paraguay's electricity needs and 19% of Brazil's. For the construction of Itaipu, a 150th channel was cut in the rocks, and the main channel of the Parana River was drained. Concrete spent on the construction of this giant would be enough for 210 football stadiums, iron and steel for 380 Eiffel Towers, and the volume of earth embankment would be 8.5 times the size of the Channel Tunnel.
The power plant closes the top three of world leaders "Guri" in Venezuela. Among the largest should also be called dams "Tukurui"(Brazil), "Grand Cooley"(USA), "Longtan"(China). The Russians, of course, also have something to brag about. Our Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP on the Yenisei River, it ranks 6th in the world among operating power plants in terms of installed capacity. The arch-gravity dam is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most reliable hydraulic structure of this type.
At the same time, the share of large hydroelectric power plants in the world energy market will decrease: small hydropower will take their place.
Why is this happening? The fact is that, since the construction of a hydroelectric power station, as a rule, is associated with significant environmental issues, in countries with high environmental standards, this has become a barrier to the development of hydro generation. As a result, there is a distinct "migration" of hydropower to developing countries, where the untapped hydro potential is large, and environmental standards are softer (due to undeveloped democratic traditions and low politicization of environmental issues). But even there, the emphasis is on small hydropower, since large hydropower facilities affect entire river basins, in most cases covering the territories of several countries, which gives rise to complex issues of joint water use.
In general, small hydropower is free from many of the disadvantages of large hydropower plants and is recognized as one of the most economical and environmentally friendly ways to generate electricity. Often, modern small hydropower plants use more than efficient technologies than in large hydro facilities. It is also worth noting that even in the past decade, small hydropower plants often turned out to be uncompetitive due to significantly higher unit costs than large hydroprojects. However, recently their competitiveness has noticeably increased due to the support of alternative energy, rising fuel prices, and the development of technologies. All this increased the investment attractiveness of small hydro projects and led to an intensive expansion of the small hydro generation sector, primarily through non-state investments.
It is also important that there are significantly more players in the market for equipment for small hydropower plants than in the market for units for large dams, so customers have a wide choice of technical solutions and suppliers. As a result, equipping SHPPs is relatively cheap. Unlike large hydropower plants, small hydropower plants do not require reservoirs, the natural flow of the river is sufficient and a small area for equipment placement. Therefore, SHPPs preserve the natural landscape, there is practically no load on the ecosystem. The advantages of small hydropower can also include low cost of electricity and operating costs, long service life without replacing equipment.
The future belongs to small hydropower plants
As a result, according to the estimates of the International Energy Agency, in the next one and a half to two decades, up to 80 percent of the increase in hydro generation capacity will be in developing countries, and the increase will occur due to the commissioning of small hydroelectric power plants. For example, according to the agency's forecasts, by 2030 Brazil will become one of the world leaders in terms of the number of small hydropower plants.
Over the past six years, the average annual growth rate of small hydropower capacity in the world has been 7 percent. In 2006, their total capacity reached 73 GW, and their energy output was over 250 TWh; total global investment in small hydropower in 2006 amounted to about 6 billion US dollars, and in subsequent years, all these figures have been significantly exceeded.
Thus, according to ESHA (European Small Hydro Energy Association), in 2010 the total installed capacity of small hydropower plants (SHPPs) in the world amounted to 87 GW. In Switzerland, the share of electricity generation from SHPs reached 8.3 percent, in Spain 2.8 percent, in Sweden almost 3 percent, and in Austria 10 percent. The leading positions in terms of total generating capacities of SHPPs are occupied by: China (47 GW), Japan (4 GW), USA (3.4 GW). With a growth rate of 4.5-4.7 percent, small hydro power generation will reach 770-780 TWh by 2030, representing more than 2 percent of the world's total electricity generation. Thus, it can be said that small hydropower will remain one of the most important and competitive renewable energy sources for the foreseeable future.
"Southern hydropower cone"
South America is also becoming one of the leaders in the small hydropower industry. Experts believe that rivers are one of the most important natural resources of South America: in terms of water resources, the continent, which accounts for about a quarter of the world's river flow, ranks first among the five continents in terms of flow per 1 square kilometer of territory and per capita. However, initially the countries of this region followed the standard path for all developing countries, that is, they started with large hydroelectric power plants and adhered to this strategy until recently.
The development of hydropower has received its own flavor here. To begin with, it is worth saying that for the part of South America, which is located south of 18 ° south latitude, the name "Southern Cone" is used. If you look at the map, you can see that within the Southern Cone are the south of Bolivia, the south of Brazil, the main part of Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. These states form the economic organization of the Southern Cone Market - Mercosur. Venezuela also joined Mercosur last year, while Colombia, Ecuador and Peru currently have associate member status.
The main hydropower potential of the Southern Cone is concentrated in the La Plata basin - on the Parana (in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina) and Uruguay (in Uruguay and Argentina) rivers. These rivers have different hydrological regimes: low water on one river does not coincide in time with low water on the other. Therefore, the countries located here have always been interested in the transnational use of these river basins: a decline in energy production in one place can be compensated for by a relatively high production in another. As a result, an Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee (ICC) was established in the La Plata Basin to assist in the preparation of a river basin agreement.
The La Plata Basin system is the subject of a 1970 agreement to which Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are members. As a result, several large hydroelectric power plants appeared there at once, belonging simultaneously to two countries: these are the Argentine-Uruguayan Salto Grande hydroelectric power station on the Uruguay River (2500 MW), the Brazilian-Paraguayan Itaipu on the Parana River (12,600 MW) and the Argentine-Paraguayan "Yasireta" is also on the Parana (3200 MW; design capacity - 4050 MW).
It is worth noting that the hydropower cascade on the Parana River (HPP Itaipu, Yasireta and Akaray) is considered the largest not only in Latin America but also in the world.
In addition, almost two-thirds of the capacity of all hydroelectric power plants in Brazil is installed in the Paraná basin. In addition to the Parana, which flows south from the Brazilian Plateau, Brazil is already almost fully using the hydroelectric potential of the São Francisco River, which flows north from the plateau. HPP cascades have been created not only on San Francisco itself, but also on its tributaries. And everything was fine until the local states realized that electricity generation in these areas is subject to quite strong fluctuations, especially in dry years.
How important this was became clear in the spring and summer of 2001, when, as a result of a long and severe drought, the water level in the rivers and reservoirs of Brazil was the lowest in sixty years. Due to the long absence of rain, lakes and reservoirs that supply water to hydroelectric power plants in the southeast (on the Paraná, these are the Ilha Solteira hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 3200 MW, Jupia - 1400, Furnas - 1200) and northeast of Brazil (on Sao Francisco - the Paulo Afonso HPP cascade with a capacity of 2600 MW, Sobradinho - 3000), became very shallow: the water level in them was half that necessary for the normal operation of the HPP. In some reservoirs, it has even dropped to the level of 15-30 percent of the normal! The catastrophic nature of this situation was that more than 92 percent of electricity in Brazil is generated by hydroelectric power plants. As a result of the drought and the unpreparedness of the country's power system in 2001, for eight months, areas of the southeast and northeast of Brazil were immersed in darkness and lived in apagon mode - periodic power outages for 4-5 hours a day. From Due to the energy deficit, Brazil's GDP growth in 2001 amounted to only 2.6 percent instead of the expected 4 percent, in terms of value, 10 billion US dollars were lost, the foreign trade deficit increased, the inflow of foreign direct investment sharply decreased and industrial production decreased.
The fact that the problem was not solved was revealed in 2012: due to power outages caused by the shallowing of rivers, 53 million people were left without electricity. There have been fears in the country that a power shortage could leave Brazil unprepared to host two major global sporting events in the near future, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
It cannot be said that the Brazilian government did not try to solve this problem. When it became clear that the possibilities of building large hydroelectric power plants on the Parana and Sao Francisco rivers had been exhausted (there were no more convenient alignments), the Brazilians planned a transition to the creation of large lowland hydroelectric power plants - mainly in the Amazon. In Brazil, they began to develop a project for the construction by 2008 of the third largest hydroelectric power station in the world - Belo Monte on the Xingu River in the state of Para. The planned capacity is 11,000 MW (the flooded area is 400 square kilometers). It was expected that the cost of electricity produced would be one of the lowest in the world (for hydroelectric power plants). The project was very bold and created many problems, because it was the largest hydroelectric power station in the Amazon jungle.
The Indians of the Amazon Basin opposed the giant hydroelectric power station, they were supported by many cultural figures. In particular, director James Cameron, who compared the situation in Brazil with the plot of his film "Avatar". Local residents stated that after the construction of the dam and hydroelectric power station, they would not be able to lead their traditional way of life. The Brazilian government has its own truth: the capacity of the hydroelectric power plant is 11 GW. According to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the station is needed to meet the needs of the country's population, whose welfare and needs are growing. Eventually last summer The Supreme Court of Brazil, despite the protests of the natives, nevertheless supported the idea of building a dam for the Belo Monte hydroelectric power station in the Amazonian jungle.
However, it cannot be said that the protests were in vain: they nevertheless forced the Brazilian authorities to think and, after much deliberation, declare that in the future only small hydropower plants are planned to be built on the Amazon. In addition, it was decided to build small hydropower plants on other Brazilian rivers. The decision is due precisely to concern for the environment. During the construction of Brazilian small hydropower plants, huge areas will not be flooded, and workers are planned to be delivered there by helicopters to minimize the consequences for the ecosystem.
And since the fundamental decisions on the construction of small hydropower plants were made, Brazil has already built 405 of them with a total electricity generation of 3,646,750 kW, or 3.1 percent of the country's total generation. All these small hydropower plants were subsidized by the state. And to cope with the growing demand for electricity, the Brazilian government plans to build 48 more small and medium-sized hydropower plants by 2020.
Do not lag behind the largest state of South America and its neighbors. Within the framework of Mercosur, in recent years, promising border areas have been identified for the possible construction of binational hydroelectric power plants. Moreover, the matter concerned not only the Parana and Uruguay (where joint hydropower projects have already been implemented), but also other rivers of the Southern Cone, such as the Bermejo, Pilcomayo, and Tarija. A dozen and a half new projects of transnational hydroelectric power stations on these rivers are at the preliminary justification stage. The largest among them are the Argentine-Paraguayan hydroelectric power plants Corpus (2880 MW) and Itati-Itacora (1660 MW) on Parana, the Argentine-Brazilian Garabi (1800 MW), Roncador (2700 MW) and San -Pedro" (745 MW) on the Uruguay River. However, in addition to large projects, in recent years, the states of South America are planning the construction of many small hydroelectric power plants, which will also be managed jointly.
It is not surprising that the leaders of these countries are turning their attention to hydropower, and first of all to small-scale ones: after all, it allows more efficient use of the energy potential of not only large, but also small rivers, and is also effective for electrifying remote areas where it is unprofitable to pull long power lines. (and in this region there are many rural areas with a rare population). Finally, small hydroelectric power plants do not have a significant impact on entire river basins, therefore, when building them on transboundary rivers, it is not necessary to solve complex interstate water use issues, as is the case with large dams.
Finally, when developing their own hydropower projects in countries of the region other than Brazil, the emphasis is also placed on small hydroelectric power plants, as they are cheaper to build and pay off faster. Such HPPs here are often built with private funds, including funds from foreign investors. In particular, in Uruguay and Paraguay, several small hydropower plants have been put into operation in recent years. Argentine rivers have even greater hydropower potential, where the largest untapped resources are in the south of the country. So, on the Santa Cruz River in Patagonia, the Argentine government decided to build two hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of more than 2 GW, and in addition to them, several small hydroelectric power plants. In Ecuador and Chile, it is planned to build a number of small hydroelectric power stations, which should cover up to a third of the electricity needs of these countries.
If all these plans are implemented (and given that there is still room for development - 67 percent of the hydro potential of South America remains undeveloped), then we can expect that the countries of the continent will become world leaders in the use of their hydropower resources in the next decade. And in many respects this will be achieved through the active introduction of small hydropower plants.
This dam is 20 times longer than the Hoover Dam, and to build it, engineers had to change the path of one of America's greatest rivers.
Today, the Itaipu Dam, located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, is the main source of electricity for these countries - it provides almost 100% of Paraguay's electricity and provides a fifth of Brazil's total demand.
But once Brazil faced a serious problem of lack of energy resources - then someone came up with the idea to use the water flows of the country as a source of energy, the rivers of which can completely go around the planet. The engineers found a great place to build the dam - where the Parana River went underground and the rock could withstand the huge weight of the concrete structures of the dam. The problem was that this place turned out to be exactly on the border of Brazil and its longtime enemy Paraguay, which during past wars lost half of its population and was wary of Brazil, but, in the end, common sense overcame the old enmity and Paraguay signed with Brazil an agreement on joint construction work on the construction of a dam designed to solve the energy problems of both countries.
In order to clear the site for construction, the Parana River was launched into a different channel, for which a 150-meter canal was punched in the surrounding rocks. In 1979, when the former riverbed completely dried up, the construction of the dam began.
Of course, there were some problems - for example, at a depth of 20 meters, the builders came across a layer of fragile crumbling rock, in connection with which the construction work was completely stopped, and the engineers had to solve the difficult task of strengthening this area, because otherwise the bottom would simply would not have sustained the colossal weight of the dam and it would have been destroyed. In the end, it was decided to fill this area with special concrete and construction resumed.
During the construction of Itaipu, it was decided to make the concrete blocks of the base of the dam hollow, which allowed the foundation to be made much wider.
On October 13, 1982, the river was returned to its former course - it took 14 days to fill the Itaipu reservoir with a depth of 100 meters. Although, if we compare the scale of the dam with the size of its reservoirs, then it seems relatively modest - "only" 170 kilometers long and 7 to 12 kilometers wide in different sections.
On May 5, 1984, the first hydrogenerator was launched. A total of 18 generators were planned, the last two of which were launched in 1991, and in September 2006 and March 2007 two more additional generators were launched, thus, their total number reached 20 pieces, each with a capacity of 700 MW, but due to the fact that, in fact, half of the entire time of operation, the water pressure exceeds the calculations - the power available for generators reaches 750 MW.
The bulk of the energy destined for Brazil goes to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, supplying 24 million Brazilians.
In April 1991, Itaipu becomes the most powerful hydroelectric power station in the world - its power would be enough to light 120 million light bulbs.
The dam is gravity concrete and rockfill.
The length of the dam reaches 7,235 meters, which is more than 20 times the length of the famous Hoover Dam. Itaipu is 400 meters wide and 196 meters high.
The final cost of the construction of the Itaipu Dam was $15.3 billion, which, compared with the initial allocation of $4.4 billion, makes one wonder why such a huge increase in price? But the answer lies, one might say, on the surface - the problem of additional costs lies on the conscience of the inefficient policy of the dictatorial regimes that have been replaced during the construction.
In November 2009, during a thunderstorm, power lines from the Itaipu Dam were severely damaged, leaving more than 50 million Brazilians and almost all of Paraguay without electricity.
Blocking the flow of the river, the dam formed an artificial lake with an area of 1340 km2. Before the flooding of this area, all of any significant archaeological sites were removed from here - about 300 in total, some of them over 8,000 years old. Already after the flooding in the area of the reservoir, many species of animals were re-adapted, which previously lived in these places, but left, fleeing from the water, or died. To top it off, 20 million trees were planted along the banks of the artificial lake.
View on dam Itaipu
