Irapé Dam

BW

The Irapé Dam is the highest dam in Brazil The building is a rockfill dam on the Rio Jequitinhonha in the state of Minas Gerais; it stands on the border of the municipalities and Grão Mogol Berilo, about 26 km west of Virgem da Lapa. The dam was built between 2002 and 2006 for hydropower generation.

History

1963 Jequitinhonha was examined for its hydropower potential and 1984, these studies have been reviewed. The Brazilian energy supplier CEMIG won the 1998 tender for the construction of Irapé Dam. Construction began in September 2002 and at the same time the power plant project was officially renamed Juscelino Kubitschek power plant, after the former president of Brazil. The diversion of the river was completed in April 2003 with two 14 -meter diameter tunnel; a 1227 m long and the other is 1067 m. The reservoir was filled in December 2005 and the first generator was put into operation on 20 July 2006. The second generator went in August and the third in October 2006 to the network. Since its completion, this is the highest dam in Brazil.

Structures

The dam is a rockfill dam with a height of 208 m and a length of 500 m. It was built in a deep canyon directly above a bend in the river. The entire building volume has about 10.3 million m³. The pent-up lake has a water surface of 137 km ². The overflow leads to three 634 m long spillway tunnels. These divert water from the dam on the east side of the river bend. Two of them are high above the valley and the third is at mid-height. Each lug has a maximum Abführleistung of 2000 m³ / s, thus the overall performance of the spillway is 6000 m³ / s The hydroelectric facility is located at the foot of the dam and houses three Francis turbines with 120 MW each, a total of 360 MW installed. The generators are designed for an electrical output of 130 MW, 390 MW together.