Construction of the Paraguayan and Brazilan Jointly Owned Itaipu Hydroelectric Plant Complete after 33 Years

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land,Texas). After 33 years of work, the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant put its last two machines into operation and thus completes the 20 generator unit project.

Itaipu is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay; Itaipu Binational is a joint Paraguayan and Brazilian government commission that runs the largest operational hydroelectric power plant worldwide. It is a joint development controlled by Brazil and Paraguay, from Foz do Iguazu, in Brazil and Ciudad Del Este in Paraguay in the south, to Guaíra and Salto Del Guaira in the north.

Construction work was completed long after building work commenced in February of 1971 and the plant was inaugurated in 1984. Officials of the binational project regard this event as a major landmark in the conclusion of the largest hydroelectric development. At a rate of two units per year, the eighteen total installed capacity of the dam reached 12,600 MW by 1991 when the eighteenth unit entered the phase of commercial power production.

Itaipu’s energy production capacity has been increased to 14,000 MW with the recent addition of the last two machines with an individual capacity of 700 MW each. Consequently, the Itaipu hydro power complex raised its installed capacity from 12,600 MW to 14,000 MW.

The original goal of the Itaipu project was to provide for the installation of 20 generator units, with installation of the two additional units coming when the increased production of the power plant become necessary to attend to the interests of Brazil and Paraguay. For this reason, on November 13, 2000, the Presidents of Brazil and Paraguay, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luis Gonzáles Macchi, met in Itaipu for the contract signing of the installation of the two new units.

Itaipu currently supplies about 25% of Brazil’s electricity and 95% of Paraguay’s power demand. According to officials, the hydroelectric complex is currently saddled by a $19 billion debt which should be paid off by 2023. Some 75% of all energy sales currently go toward debt payments.

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