Ralco Hydroelectric Plant

The Ralco Dam is the second dam on the Río Bío Bío in Chile after the Pangue dam. It was in 1998 - built in 2002 southeast of Los Ángeles (Chile) in the Región del Bío -Bío.

The dam was made ​​of walzverdichtetem concrete ( RCC) as a gravity dam and is according to different specifications 153.3 or 155 m high. The construction costs amounted to 568 million U.S. dollars. A hydroelectric power plant generates electricity with a capacity of 570 MW and is operated by the energy company ENDESA España.

The reservoir was flooded from 22 April 2004. It is 34 square kilometers and holds 1.222 billion cubic meters of water. ( Alternative figures on the dam are placed in the table in parentheses. )

In the Bio Bio total of six dams are planned.

Opposition to the project

The dam was built against considerable resistance from the local Indian population. For the flooding of the reservoir members of the indigenous peoples of the Mapuche and Pehuenchen had to be moved from their settlements.