ITAIPU DAM is the world’s most
powerful dam built in Brazil in
1984.In 1994, the American Society of
Civil Engineers selected the Itaipu Dam
as one of the Seven Wonders of the
Modern World.
It was supposed to generate 90,000
Giga Watts of electricity each year. In
2000, the generating capacity of Itaipu
reached 93.4 billion kilowatt-hours
(kWh), which supplied 93% of the
energy consumed by Paraguay, and
20% of that has been consumed by
Brazil. The frequency of generated
electricity is 50 Hz but on Brazilian
side a power converter transmits the
50 Hz into 60 Hz, which is the Brazilian
grid frequency.
This amount is so high that it can fulfill
London’s electricity needs
continuously for 3 years.
The project cost was estimated at that
time to be 13.5 billion pounds and was
completed in 7 years by an army of
40,000 workers who took part in the
project, of which 149 died in accidents
during the construction of Itaipu dam.
The key consultant engineer for the
project was an Italian engineer named
Piero Sembenalli
The dam design showed that it was 18
times larger than Hoover dam in USA
and 9 times heavier than that.
Moreover it produced 6 times more
electricity than Hoover dam in USA
Constructed on bed rock of river bed.
River was re-routed. A 2km long and
80m deep channel was dug. It was
biggest diversion canal ever
attempted. Mechanical diggers were
used to dig the diversion canal and it
took three years for this channel to be
completed.
Reservoir of the Itaipu dam is 100 m
(330 ft) deep and has a size equal to
the area of Chicago
Its area reaches 1 350 sq. km, its
length 170 km and its average width 7
km.
Population displaced was about 10,000
families
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