Paulo Afonso Hydroelectric Complex

The Paulo Afonso - Hydropower Complex ( Complexo Hidrelétrico de Paulo Afonso ) is a system of three reservoirs and five hydropower plants on the São Francisco River near the city of Paulo Afonso in Bahia, Brazil.

The complex

The complex takes advantage of the slope of a 80 m high natural waterfall, known as Paulo Afonso Falls. Over time, several buildings were built in 1948-1979: The power plants Paulo Afonso I, II, III, IV and Apollonius Sales ( Moxotó ) have a total of 23 turbines and generators with an installed capacity of 4279.6 MW.

Paulo Afonso I was the first major power plant in Brazil. The complex represents the densest network of reservoirs in Brazil dar. The complex supplies the Northeast of Brazil mt electricity and is the main tourist attraction in the area.

Architectural History

1913 began the use of hydropower at the waterfalls with the small Angiquinho -1 ,1- MW power plant. In 1944, the construction of Paulo Afonso I was approved, first with two generators. Construction began in 1948. On January 15, 1955, the Brazilian President João Café Filho PA I inaugurated. 1955, the third generator of PA was put into operation I and II began the building of PA.

1961 PA II was complete and on 24 October this year, the first generator began operations. The other five generators were set between 1962 and 18 December 1967 in gear. The construction of PA III began soon after 1967, and on October 21, 1971 was the first generator. The other generators were added to 1972-1974, the last on August 1974. 5th 1971 was the construction of the Apollonius -sales ( Moxotó ) Dam and hydroelectric power plant further 4 km above the falls on. 1977 was the construction finished and the four generators went in April this year to the grid. 1972 began construction of the dam and its last power plant, PA IV, 2 km south-west of the cases. This building was completed in 1979 and his first generator went on line on December 1, two more generators in 1980, two in 1981 and the last on 28 May 1983.

The construction of the dams caused a loss of 1,600 ha of land and 52,000 people had to be resettled.

Structures

Apollonius Sales ( Moxotó )

The Appollonius -sales dam and the associated power plant were originally known under the name Moxotó, but were after Appollonius Sales, the founder of the CHESF ( Companhia Hidro - Elétrica do São Francisco, the operating company ), renamed. The dam is a 30 m high, 2825 m long earth and rockfill dam. The reservoir is 1,200 million cubic meters in size, its surface covers 100 sq km and the catchment area is 630,000 km ² in size. Dam and reservoir to regulate the flow of water down mainly to PA I, II and III 4 km. On the western side there is a spillway with 20 locks with a total of 28,000 m³ / s capacity. The power plant is located on the east side of the dam and has four generators with Kaplan turbines. Each generator has a rated output of 100 MW, 400 MW together.

Paulo Afonso I, II, III ( Delmiro Gouveia )

Directly above the waterfalls is the Delmiro Gouveia - dam. It supplies Paulo Afonso I, II and III with water. The dam is 20 m high, 4707 m long and is a gravity dam made ​​of concrete. The reservoir has a capacity of 26 million m³ and a surface area of 4.8 km ². The dam has an uncontrollable overflow, an additional controllable spillway in the outer area and then another four controllable outlets on the front of the falls. These generate four outlets, if they are open, the waterfall.

All three power plants are located 82 m deep underground side by side. PA I is housed in the center in a 60 m long, 31 m high and 15 m wide cavern. This includes three 60 MW generators with Francis turbines with an installed capacity of 180 MW. The generators of Westinghouse have vertical axes. The turbine manufacturer was Dominion Engineering Works ( Andritz AG). The power house of PA II is 104 m long, 36 m high and 18 m wide. It contains six vertical Francis turbines and generators. Two generators have 70 MW, a 75 MW and the last three 76 MW, 443 MW together. The generators coming from S. Morgan Smith and Hitachi, the turbines from Voith. The power house of PA III is 127 m long, 46 m high and 18 m wide. In it are four 198.55 - MW generators from Siemens with together 794.2 MW. All ( Francis ) turbines from Voith.

Paulo Afonso IV

The Paulo Afonso - Dam is 2 km southwest of the falls and is 35 m high and 7430 m long. It is an earth and rockfill dam, but in 1053 m of which are made ​​of concrete. There are the inlets for the power plant and the spillway. The latter consists of eight locks and has a maximum discharge capacity of 10,000 cubic meters. The building dams on a lake with 127.5 million m³ and a water surface of 12.9 km ². The reservoir water flows through to a channel that begins at the southern end of Apollonius sales reservoir and is continued south along the city. The PA IV power house is below ground and 210 m long, 52 m high and 24 m wide. In it are six 410.4 - MW generators with an installed capacity of 2462.4 MW. Each generator is from sincrono -Vertical - type by Siemens and used vertical-axis Francis turbines manufactured by Voith.