ITAIPU DAM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

ITAIPU DAM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE



ITAIPU dam is considered as one of The Seven Wonders Of The Civil Engineering World series, . This potence emerging dam is located on the Parana River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The name ‘Itaipu’ refers ‘the sounding stone’ in the Guaraní language.

hydroelectricity is a term  referring to electricity which is generated through the use of the gravitational force of moving water (either by falling or flowing). Hydroelectricity is the most extensively used form of renewable energy on the planet and is expected to increase its usage by 3.1% each year for the next two decades.  being a rich renewable energy source another benefit of creating electricity in this way is that the cost is relatively low in comparison with other energy-production methods.

The consultant engineer for this  project was Piero Sembenalli who look after the project for the seven years of construction. The building of this structure cost £13.5 bn and providing jobs  to 40,000 workers over the construction period following by constructing new houses, schools and hospitals  so that they could live near by to the project. Before construction on the dam could begin, the engineers had to plan a way of shifting the course of the Parana River. This part of the project took three years as it required workers to cut a 1.3 mile long, 300 foot deep channel for the river to reroute to; this process required the removal of fifty million tonnes of earth and rock.The plans of the dam showed that it was not to be supported by any bodily or natural features and due to the water pressure calculated to be equal to the strength of 4000 bulldozers, the dam had to bear the weight of 61 million tonnes so that water could not move it.

In terms of annual energy production, The Itaipu Dam is the world’s largest managing hydroelectric facility. There are currently twenty generator units that are installed in the dam, ten of these units  produce 50 Hz for Paraguay and the other ten unites generate at 60 Hz for Brazil. Brazil receives more of the energy in comprance to paraguay. To give you an idea of the huge amount of energy that this dam produces, if the quota of energy that produced by this every year was used to power the electricity in London, it would fulfil the city’s electricity needs continuously  for the span of  three years