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Concept
Itaipu Dam
Summary
The Itaipu Dam (Barragem de Itaipu itɐjˈpu, Represa de Itaipú itajˈpu) 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, and holds the 45th largest reservoir in the world.
The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. In the Guarani language, Itaipu means "the sounding stone". The Itaipu Dam's hydroelectric power plant produced the second-most electricity of any in the world as of 2020, only surpassed by the Three Gorges Dam plant in electricity production.
Completed in 1984, it is a binational undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the border between the two countries, 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 . 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 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.
The concept behind the Itaipu Power Plant was the result of serious 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 Raúl Sapena Pastor, respectively. This was a joint declaration of the mutual interest in studying the exploitation of the hydro 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 watershed.
Official source
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