Itaipu Dam Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Itaipu Dam Presa Itaipu Barragem de Itaipu

Location of the Dam
Official name	Central Hidroeléctrica Itaipú Binacional Usina Hidrelétrica Itaipu Binacional
Country	Brazil Paraguay
Location	Foz do Iguaçu Hernandarias
Coordinates	25°24′29″S 54°35′20″W / 25.40806°S 54.58889°W / -25.40806; -54.58889
Status	Operational
Construction began	January 1971
Opening date	5 May 1984
Construction cost	US$19.6 billion
Owner(s)	Itaipu Binational
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Combination gravity, buttress and embankment sections
Impounds	Paraná River
Height	196 m (643 ft)
Length	7,919 m (25,981 ft)
Dam volume	12,300,000 m³ (430,000,000 cu ft)
Spillway capacity	62,200 m³/s (2,200,000 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Creates	Itaipu Reservoir
Total capacity	29 km³ (24,000,000 acre⋅ft)
Catchment area	1,350,000 km² (520,000 sq mi)
Surface area	1,350 km² (520 sq mi)
Maximum length	170 km (110 mi)
Maximum width	12 km (7.5 mi)
Power station
Type	Conventional
Hydraulic head	118 m (387 ft)
Turbines	20 × 700 MW (940,000 hp) Francis-type
Installed capacity	14 GW (19,000,000 hp)
Capacity factor	73%
Annual generation	89.5 TWh (322 PJ) (2015)
Website www.itaipu.gov.br www.itaipu.gov.py

The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The construction of the dam was first contested by Argentina, but the negotiations and resolution of the dispute ended up setting the basis for Argentine-Brazilian integration later on.

The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. The Itaipu Dam's hydroelectric power plant produced the most energy of any in the world as of 2016, setting a new world record of 103,098,366 megawatt hours (MWh). Completed in 1984, it is a bi-national undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the border between the two countries. In 2016, the plant employed 3038 workers.

History
Construction
Generating station and dam
Wonder of the Modern World
Images for kids
See also

History

Design studies began in February 1971. On April 26, 1973, Brazil and Paraguay signed the Itaipu Treaty, the legal instrument for the hydroelectric use of the Paraná River. On October 14, 1978, the Paraná River had its route changed, which allowed a section of the riverbed to dry so the dam could be built there.

The reservoir began its formation on October 13, 1982, when the dam works were completed and the side canal's gates were closed. Throughout this period, heavy rains and flooding accelerated the filling of the reservoir as the water rose 100 meters (330 feet) and reached the gates of the spillway at 10:00 on October 27. On May 5, 1984, the first generation unit started running in Itaipu. The first 18 units were installed at the rate of two to three a year; the last two of these started running in the year 1991.

Construction

The course of the seventh biggest river in the world was shifted, as were 50 million tons of earth and rock.
The amount of concrete used to build the Itaipu Power Plant would be enough to build 210 football stadiums the size of the Estádio do Maracanã.
The iron and steel used would allow for the construction of 380 Eiffel Towers.
The volume of excavation of earth and rock in Itaipu is 8.5 times greater than that of the Channel Tunnel and the volume of concrete is 15 times greater.
Around forty thousand people worked in the construction.
Itaipu is one of the most expensive objects ever built.

Generating station and dam

The total length of the dam is 7,235 metres (23,737 ft). The crest elevation is 225 metres (738 ft). Itaipu is actually four dams joined together – from the far left, an earth fill dam, a rock fill dam, a concrete buttress main dam, and a concrete wing dam to the right.
The spillway has a length of 483 metres (1,585 ft).
The maximum flow of Itaipu's fourteen segmented spillways is 62.2 thousand cubic metres per second (2.20×10^⁶ cu ft/s), into three skislope formed canals. It is equivalent to 40 times the average flow of the nearby natural Iguaçu Falls.
The flow of two generators (700 cubic metres per second (25,000 cu ft/s) each) is roughly equivalent to the average flow of the Iguaçu Falls (1,500 cubic metres per second (53,000 cu ft/s)).
The dam is 196 metres (643 ft) high, equivalent to a 65-story building.
Though it is the seventh largest reservoir in size in Brazil, the Itaipu's reservoir has the best relation between electricity production and flooded area. For the 14,000 MW installed power, 1,350 square kilometres (520 sq mi) were flooded. The reservoirs for the hydroelectric power plants of Sobradinho Dam, Tucuruí Dam, Porto Primavera Dam, Balbina Dam, Serra da Mesa Dam and Furnas Dam are all larger than the one for Itaipu, but have a smaller installed generating capacity. The one with the next largest hydroelectric production, Tucuruí, has an installed capacity of 8,000 MW, while flooding 2,430 km² (938 sq mi) of land.
Electricity is 55% cheaper when made by the Itaipu Dam than the other types of power plants in the area.

Wonder of the Modern World

In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers elected the Itaipu Dam as one of the seven modern Wonders of the World. In 1995, the American magazine Popular Mechanics published the results.