Tucuruí Dam
| Tucuruí Dam | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Location of Tucuruí Dam in Brazil
|
|
| Official name | Usina Hidrelétrica de Tucuruí |
| Location | Tucuruí, Pará, Brazil |
| Coordinates | 03°49′54″S 49°38′48″W / 3.83167°S 49.64667°WCoordinates: 03°49′54″S 49°38′48″W / 3.83167°S 49.64667°W |
| Construction began | 1975 |
| Opening date | 1984 |
| Construction cost | $5.5 billion, $7.5 with accrued interest |
| Operator(s) | Eletronorte |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Concrete gravity |
| Impounds | |
| Height | 78 m (256 ft) |
| Length | 12.5 km (7.8 mi) Main dam:6.9 km (4 mi) |
| Spillway type | Service, Creager-type, gate-controlled |
| Spillway capacity | 110,000 m3/s (3,900,000 cu ft/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Lago Tucuruí |
| Total capacity | 45 km3 (36,000,000 acre·ft) |
| Catchment area | 758,000 km2 (293,000 sq mi) |
| Surface area | 2,850 km2 (1,100 sq mi) |
| Max. water depth | 72 m (236 ft) |
| Power station | |
| Turbines |
25 12 x 350 MW (470,000 hp) 11 x 375 MW (503,000 hp) 2 x 22.5 MW (30,200 hp) |
| Installed capacity | 8,370 MW (11,220,000 hp) |
| Annual generation | 21.4 TWh (77 PJ) |
The Tucuruí Dam (Tucuruí means "grasshopper's water", translated from Tupí language; Portuguese: Tucuruí) is a concrete gravity dam on the located on the Tucuruí County in the State of Pará, Brazil. The main purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and navigation. It is the first large-scale hydroelectric project in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. The installed capacity of the 25-unit plant is 8,370 megawatts (11,220,000 hp). Phase I construction began in 1975 and ended in 1984 while Phase II began in 1998 and ended in 2012. The dam was featured in the 1985 film The Emerald Forest.
The initial reconnaissance of the Tocantins River was carried out by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and USAID in 1964. The Amazon Energy Studies Coordination Committee was formed in 1968 and begin hydroelectric project studies in 1969. Before the committee closed, Eletrobrás commissioned further studies, called the "Tocantins Studies", on the entire Tocantins River Basin. In 1973, Brazilian President Emílio Médici was asked to assign funding for a dam on the Tocantins. Two options were available: the Tucuruí Dam and Santo Antonio Dam (unrelated to the current Santo Antonio Dam project on the Madeira river). In 1973, the Engevix-Ecotec consortium carried out feasibility studies and the Santo Antonio Dam was ruled out in 1974. Later in 1974, the Tucuruí Dam was approved during the President Ernesto Geisel administration.
...
Wikipedia