Sunday, August 27, 2006
Itiapu
Itaipu Hydroelectric project
This project is huge! It took over twenty years to build the dam and even longer to
get the generators on line. Some of the stats: There is enough steel
to make 380 Eiffel towers, cement to make a freeway from Moscow to
Lisbon, it produces 95%of Paraguay's electric needs and 25% of Brazil's
needs, and this is with 18 units. There is two more that will come on line
soon to make total of 20.
Even the monitor screen is big here. A bit hard to read in the picture here but it
shows all the main operating functions, ie, whether or not the spillway is open, which generators are operating (the blue ones are not working) and speed, etc.
The white penstock to the left has a 10.5 meter diameter and drops about 100 meters
down to the turbine. Each one flows about the same amount of water as Iguaçu Falls.
The generator hall is just over one km long and each generator output is
700 MW X 20 = A lot!
Now the spillway. This one is about 200 meters across and there are 3 of them.
I am told that they are used every year around January. Check this link for a satellite image.
http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/worldguide/html/image_1877.html
This project is huge! It took over twenty years to build the dam and even longer to
get the generators on line. Some of the stats: There is enough steel
to make 380 Eiffel towers, cement to make a freeway from Moscow to
Lisbon, it produces 95%of Paraguay's electric needs and 25% of Brazil's
needs, and this is with 18 units. There is two more that will come on line
soon to make total of 20.
Even the monitor screen is big here. A bit hard to read in the picture here but it
shows all the main operating functions, ie, whether or not the spillway is open, which generators are operating (the blue ones are not working) and speed, etc.
The white penstock to the left has a 10.5 meter diameter and drops about 100 meters
down to the turbine. Each one flows about the same amount of water as Iguaçu Falls.
The generator hall is just over one km long and each generator output is
700 MW X 20 = A lot!
Now the spillway. This one is about 200 meters across and there are 3 of them.
I am told that they are used every year around January. Check this link for a satellite image.
http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/worldguide/html/image_1877.html
