Brazil: Itaipu Dam, Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, Foz do Iguacu

The Itaipu Dam (Portuguese: Barragem de Itaipu) is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. It is the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world, and holds the 45th largest reservoir in the world. Completed in 1984, it is a binational undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the border between the two countries. The installed generation capacity of the plant is 14 GW, with 20 generating units providing 700 MW each with a hydraulic design head of 118 metres (387 ft). The reservoir began its formation on October 13, 1982, when the dam works were completed and the side canal's gates were closed. On May 5, 1984, the first-generation unit started running in Itaipu. The first 18 units were installed at the rate of two to three a year; the last two of these started running in the year 1991. The last two of the 20 electric generation units started operations in September 2006 and in March 2007, thus raising the installed capacity to 14 GW and completing the power plant. This increase in capacity allows 18 generation units to run permanently while two are shut down for maintenance.

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