Chacorão Dam | |
---|---|
Official name | Barragem de Chacorão |
Country | Brazil |
Coordinates | 6°29′52″S 58°19′25″W / 6.497717°S 58.323536°WCoordinates: 6°29′52″S 58°19′25″W / 6.497717°S 58.323536°W |
Purpose | Hydroelectric |
Status | Planned |
Dam and spillways | |
Impounds | Tapajós river |
Reservoir | |
Surface area | 61,600 hectares (152,000 acres) |
Installed capacity | 3,336 megawatts (4,474,000 hp) |
The Chacorão Dam (or Chocorão Dam, Portuguese: Barragem de Chacorão) is a proposed dam on the Tapajós river in the state of Pará, Brazil. It would flood a section of rapids in the river, making them navigable by barges carrying soybeans to ports on the Amazon River. The dam would include locks for the barges and a hydroelectric power plant. It is controversial since it would flood a large area of an indigenous territory.
The proposed Chacorão Dam would be built on the Tapajós river in the state of Pará. The hydroelectric power plant would be part of the proposed 12,000 megawatts (16,000,000 hp) Tapajós hydroelectric complex on the Tapajos and Jamanxim rivers. Others are the São Luiz do Tapajós (6,133 MW), Jatobá (2,338 MW), Cachoeira dos Patos (528 MW), Jamanxim (881 MW) and Cachoeira do Cai (802 MW) plants, all under study, as well as the less advanced proposal for the Jardim do Ouro (227 MW).
The São Luiz do Tapajós, Jatobá and Chacorão dams on the Tapajós would together flood 198,400 hectares (490,000 acres), including parts of the Amazônia and Juruena national parks and the Itaituba I and Itaituba II national forests. The Chacorão reservoir would affect the Munduruku, Kayabí and Apiacá indigenous people. It would flood 18,700 hectares (46,000 acres) of the Mundurucu Indigenous Territory.