The beautiful dam Itaipulocated between Paraguay j Brazilhit one Record Guinness thanks to his «highest cumulative production of hydroelectric energy«. This is a great achievement for all of Latin America, making the dam one of the most important in the world, along with the Three Gorges Dam j Baihetain China.
Itaipu, which in the Guaraní language means “the stone that sings» by the sound made by the water of the Paraná River exceeded 3,038 million megawatts per hour of energy. This factory has been in operation since 1984 when it came into operation, although construction began in 1974.
Justo Zacarías, the Paraguayan general manager of Itaipú, said: “Today we celebrate a file of our employeesa record of the tens of thousands of people who the Itaipu binational«. He also emphasized the brotherhood between the two countries that host this imposing and unique dam.
It is the first time that a dam has been considered for such a competition, and it far exceeded the minimum they set, which was about 2.5 billion megawatts per hour, according to Natalia Ramírez, the jury of this award.
In addition, the judge clarified: “We verified all this information, all this evidence with two specialized witnesses, two people outside the Binational Hydropower Plant, who carried out a thorough validation of the information received.”
The most important characteristics of the “Guinness Record” mother
The Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Station is located on the The Parana Riverbetween the borders of the countries Paraguay j Brazil. It’s in town Hernandarias (Paraguay) and extends through the areas of Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil), Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), Guaira (Brazil) and Salto del Guairá (Paraguay). Moreover, it is approximately 14 km away Friendship Bridgewhich connects the cities of Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este.
To take into account its enormous size, it must be taken into account that this dam has 7,744 meters longextends for approx 200 kilometers in a straight linehas a height of 196 metroswhich would be a 65-story building. Itaipu weighs approx 61 million tons in total. It is mainly made up of 12.3 million m³ reinforced concretealthough stone, earth, iron and steel were also used.
The technology is striking: it can do up to… 14,000 MWh of electricity and produces approximately 90 million megawatts per hour per year. The spillway has 14 gates to let the water out and 18 pipes to channel it to the turbines. The maximum discharge is 40 times greater than the average flow of Iguazú Falls. The amount of energy generated by this hydroelectric plant is so great that to produce the same amount, 434,000 barrels of oil would have to be burned per day.
A Latin American mother as ‘wonder of the world’
In addition to the recent Guinness Record, this impressive construction has already received important recognitions. In 1995, the American Association of Civil Engineers recognized this dam as one of the «Seven Wonders of the Modern World«, along with the Golden State Bridge, the Panama Canal, the Channel Tunnel, the Empire State Building, the Canadian National Tower and the North Sea water management project.
This makes this dam not only vital in Latin America, but also recognized by specialists around the world as one of the best hydroelectric power stations. In fact, this is the the second largest in the world after the Three Gorges Dam, in China and of course the largest in Latin America, and is also known as the third most powerful in the world, after the latter and Baihetan, also in China.
Moreover, since its inception in 1984, this imposing structure has been declared a world leader in… hydroelectric technology. Moreover, it is an incredible binational construct, unlike few others in the world.