Itaipu
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Itaipu (Guarani: Itaipu, Portuguese: Itaipu, Spanish: Itaipú; pronounced [itaj'pu]) is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay.
The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. Itaipu, from the Guarani language, means "singing stones". The American composer Philip Glass has also written a symphonic cantata named Itaipu in honour of the structure.
Itaipu Binacional is a company that runs the largest operational hydroelectric power plant in the world <ref>Power: World's biggest hydroelectric facility. USGS. Retrieved on May 18, 2006.</ref>. It is a binational undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the Paraná River on the border section between the two countries, 15 km 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 of 700 MW each. In the year 2000 it achieved its generating record of 93.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), which supplied 93% of the energy consumed by Paraguay and 20% of that consumed by Brazil as of 2005.
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[edit] History
[edit] Negotiations between Brazil and Paraguay
The Itaipu Power Plant is the result of heavy negotiations between the two countries during the 1960s. The "Ata do Iguaçu" (Iguaçu Act) was signed on July 22, 1966, by the Brazilian and Paraguayan Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Juracy Magalhães and Sapena Pastor, respectively. This was a joint declaration of the mutual interest in studying the exploitation of the hydric resources that the two countries shared in the section of the Paraná River starting from and including the Salto de Sete Quedas to the Iguaçu River's watershed.
[edit] Construction starts
The works began in January 1970.
[edit] Paraná River rerouted
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.
[edit] Agreement by Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina
An important diplomatic settlement was reached with the signing of the Acordo Tripartite by Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, on October 19 1979. This agreement established the allowed river levels and how much they could change as a result of the various hydroelectrical undertakings in the watershed that was shared by the three countries. . By that time, as the three countries were ruled by military dictatorships, Argentina was concerned that, in the event of a conflict, Brazil could open the floodgates, raising the water level in the Plata River and consequently flooding the capital city of Buenos Aires.
[edit] Formation of the lake
The plant's 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, water rose 100 meters (330 feet) and reached the gates of the spillway at 10:00 AM on October 27 due to the heavy rains and flooding that took place at the time.
[edit] Start of operations
On the 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.
[edit] Capacity expansion in 2007
The last two units, for a final total of 20, are expected to start operations before the end of 2007, increasing the capacity of the plant from 12,600 MW to 14,000 MW. This increase in capacity will allow for 18 generation units to remain running all of the time while two stay down for maintenance (while today, 16 or 17 run while one or two are down).
Each turbine generates around 700 megawatts; for comparison, all the water from the Iguazu Falls would have capacity to feed only two generators.
[edit] Power transmission
Of the currently 18 generator units installed, nine of them generate in 50 Hz, the grid frequency of Paraguay and 9 generate in 60 Hz, the Brazilian grid frequency. There's also a power converter on the Brazilian side that allows the transformation of 60 Hz into 50 Hz energy that is not used in Paraguay.
[edit] "Wonder of the Modern World"
The Itaipu Dam is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, in a list compiled in 1995 by the American magazine Popular Mechanics.
[edit] Other information
[edit] Concrete
The amount of concrete used to build the Itaipu Power Plant would be enough to build 210 football stadiums the size of Maracanãs [citation needed].
[edit] Iron
The iron and steel used would allow for the construction of 380 Eiffel Towers[citation needed].
[edit] Flow
The maximum flow of the Itaipu's spillway is 62.2 thousand cubic metres per second, it is equivalent to 40 times the average flow of the Iguazu Falls.
The flow of two generators (700 m3·s−1 each) is roughly equivalent to the average flow of the Falls (1500 m3·s−1).
[edit] Energy
If Brazil were to use Thermal Power Generation to produce the electric power of Itaipu, 434 thousand barrels of petroleum would have to be burned every day.
[edit] Earthworks
The volume of excavation of earth and rock in Itaipu is 8.5 times greater than that of the Euro Tunnel and the volume of concrete is 15 times greater. Over 50 million tonnes of earth and stones were removed.
[edit] The reservoir
Though it is the seventh greatest in size in Brazil, the Itaipu's reservoir has the best relation between production and flooded area. For the 12,600 MW installed power, 1350 square kilometres were flooded. The reservoirs for the hydroelectric power plants of Sobradinho, Tucuruí, Porto Primavera, Balbina, Serra da Mesa and Furnas are all larger than the one for Itaipu, and all of them lose in installed capacity.
The one with the largest energy production, Tucuruí, has an installed capacity of 4,240 MW, but it had to flood 2,430 square kilometres of land.
[edit] Dimensions
The dam is 196 metres high, equivalent to a 50 story building.
[edit] Workers
Around forty thousand people worked in the construction.
[edit] Generation
| Year | Number of Installed Units | GWh |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 0–2 | 277 |
| 1985 | 2–3 | 6,327 |
| 1986 | 3–6 | 21,853 |
| 1987 | 6–9 | 35,807 |
| 1988 | 9–12 | 38,508 |
| 1989 | 12–15 | 47,230 |
| 1990 | 15–16 | 53,090 |
| 1991 | 16–18 | 57,517 |
| 1992 | 18 | 52,268 |
| 1993 | 18 | 59,997 |
| 1994 | 18 | 69,394 |
| 1995 | 18 | 77,212 |
| 1996 | 18 | 81,654 |
| 1997 | 18 | 89,237 |
| 1998 | 18 | 87,845 |
| 1999 | 18 | 90,001 |
| 2000 | 18 | 93,428 |
| 2001 | 18 | 79,307 |
| 2002 | 18 | 82,914 |
| 2003 | 18 | 89,151 |
| 2004 | 18 | 89,911 |
| 2005 | 18 | 87,971 |
| Total | 18 | 1,390,912 |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Itaipu Company Site(in Portuguese, English, and Spanish)
- Introduction
- Power conversion
- Power conditioning
- The Itaipu Transmission System
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- Satellite image from WikiMapia or Google Maps
- Street map from Multimap or GlobalGuide
- Aerial image from TerraServer
[edit] References
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bg:Итаипу de:Itaipú es:Represa de Itaipú eo:Itajpuo fr:Barrage d'Itaipu gl:Encoro hidroeléctrico de Itaipú he:סכר איטייפו lt:Itaipu nl:Itaipúdam ja:イタイプダム pl:Itaipu pt:Usina hidrelétrica de Itaipu ru:Плотина Итайпу sv:Itaipu-dammen zh:伊泰普水电站
