Furnas Dam

The Furnas Dam with hydroelectric power plant Furnas (Portuguese Usina Hidrelétrica de Furnas ) is a large dam with a hydroelectric power station on the Rio Grande in Brazil. The dam stands between the cities of São José da Barra and São João Batista do Glória in Minas Gerais.

The hydroelectric plant has a rated capacity of 1,216 MW ( 8 times 152 MW) and is operated by Furnas Centrais Elétricas. In July 1958 construction began and the first machine unit went into operation in 1963.

The lake, the Lago de Furnas or Mar de Minas is called, is one of the largest reservoirs in Brazil. He has a water surface area of ​​about 1440 km ² and a shoreline of 3500 km. Other definitions speak of 1320, 1458 or 1600 sq. km. Also for the storage content, there are several entries: 20,900, 21,000, 22,950 or 23,000 million cubic meters. In any case, the reservoir is one of the largest in the world.

The lake is dammed by an earth dam ( Barragem de Furnas ), the amount of 96, 120 or 127 m and its length is 600-779 m. ( Again, there are different information. )