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The Three Gorges Dam, China (22.5GW)
The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest power station. This complex project is situated in Xilingxia Gorge, which is one of the three gorges of the Yangtze River, Hubei Province China. The river is Asia’s longest and third largest in the world, snaking 6357km across Asia.
It is such an enormous plan that the Dam is one of the few structures which is visible to the human eye from space. This Dam includes in the gravity type, which uses its material weight to hold this huge amount of water. It is stated by NASA that the Dam is so huge and powerful that it slows down the rotation of the earth, due to inertia, by 0.06s.
The output power of this gigantic Dam is nearly 22,500MW since 2012. This massive project meets the energy needs of nearly a 16million people. The height of this hydroelectric power plant is 181m and length is 2,335m, width of crest and base 40m and 115m respectively. 28million cubic meters of concrete and 463,000 metric tons of steel are used in the construction of this epic dam structure.
The main purpose of this project includes flood control, electricity production, and improved navigation. 300,000 people were killed by the Yangtze flood. The Dam stores a vast amount of water directly from rain and saves the lives of millions from floods.
Itaipu Dam, Brazil Paraguay (14GW)
Itaipu Dam is the second most operational hydroelectric power plant, only excelled by The Three Gorges Dam China. It is one of the highest hollow gravity Dam with a height of 196m. The dam is situated on the Parana River between Brazil and Paraguay 15km north of Friendship Bridge.
Parana River is the second-longest after Amazon. This is a joint venture thereby increasing the relationship between the countries. The installed capacity is 14 GW of electricity. It meets the energy demands of the people in the two countries. 90% of the energy produced is consumed by Brazil.
After the construction of this hydroelectric power plant energy becomes 55% cheaper in these countries. Itaipu Dam is one of the seven modern wonders of the world, whose construction is begun in January 1971. The length of the hydroelectric power plant is 170km, width 12km, surface area 1350kmsquare, and capacity 29kmcube.
The amount of iron and steel used for its construction is large enough to construct 380 Eiffel towers. 160 tons of water flow out of the Dam per second. The excess electricity produced from the power plant is sold across the world. The introduction of the Itaipu Dam reduced dependence on coal and oil. To generate the same amount produced by hydroelectric power plant 5 billion barrels of oil should be used.
Xiluodu, China (13.86GW)
Xiluodu Dam is the world’s third-largest hydroelectric power plant. The dam is built by GTPC (China Three Gorges Cooperation) and is the second-largest power generating structure in China.
It is the world’s fourth-tallest dam in the world with a height of 937feet. This is a double curvature concrete arch dam. The power plant is located on the Jinsha River, the upper reach of the Yangtze River between Yunnan Province and Sichuan Province.
Construction was begun in 2005 and completed in 2013. The project is introduced as a part of China West Development Strategy to enhance the economy of 6 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 1 municipality in Western China. The main functions of the dam are power generation, flood control, silt control, and navigation. It creates a reservoir named Xiluodu Reservoir with a reservoir capacity of nearly 12.67 billion cubic meters where 4.65 billion cubic meters are for flood control.
The dam structure is 278m high and 700m wide. It produces 64bKWh of electricity annually. Xiluodu also sets a world record for discharging speed at 50m/s. The installed capacity of Xiluodu is 13.86 GW, thereby decreasing dependency on fossil fuels. 41million tons of coal is needed to produce the same amount of electricity produced by the power plant.
Belo Monte, Brazil (11.23GW)
Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant supplies 11.23GW to 60million Brazilians. It is the largest in Amazon and fourth-largest in the world. The power plant is situated north of Xingu River in the state of Para, Brazil, deep in the Amazon basin. It is a complex of three dams.
After Paraguayan Itaipu, Belo Monte is the second-largest complex in Brazil. It is operated by Norte Energia Consortium. It is a composite type dam. The plan is proposed in 1975 but opposition from locals and environmental activists caused the delay. The power is upgraded tom11.23 GW after the installation of the 18th turbine in November 2019, thus the project is completed in 2019.
The hydroelectric power station consists of mainly three components, which include the main powerhouse at Belo Monte, the primary spillway at Pimental Island with an installed capacity of 233.1MW(consisting of 38.85MW bulb turbines), and a supplemental powerhouse.
The turbine house of the main Dam possesses an installed capacity of 11,000 MW. Through the Tucurui-Macapa-Manaus transmission, line power is sent to the National Interconnected System (SIN). This Amazon mega-dam can supply the average energy of 4419MW for the next fifty years, which is about 9% of the proven oil reserve of Brazil, thus helps in curbing carbon emission.
Guri, Venezuela (10.23GW)
Guri hydroelectric power plant is one of the largest hydroelectric power plants on earth with an installed capacity of 10.23GW. It is situated 100km upstream of the Caroni River in Necuima Canyon in Orinoco, Venezuela. The project is also known as Simon Bolivar hydroelectric power station and Raul Leoni hydroelectric Central. The operation was started in 1978.
The power plant is maintained and operated by Venezuelan power company CVG Electrification del Caroni, C.A. This is a concrete gravity and embankment type Dam. The main purpose of the dam is power production and is built to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. It produces 50,000GW/h of energy in the country in a year and meets 73% energy needs of the country.
The hydroelectric power plant is 7,426 meters long and 162m high. VHPC, an affiliate unit of Hitachi Plant Technologies is given the contract for the construction of a second powerhouse. The contract includes the installation of 10 water turbines (730MW capacity) and 10 auxiliary transformers.
A water treatment system, 6 elevators, and a carbon dioxide fire –fighting system is also installed additionally. The power plant consists of 3 high-voltage switchyards running at 800kv, 400kv, and 230kv. There is an ongoing modernization program to extend the plant’s life by 30 years.
This Article is written by Ashna George for New Physicist