Sobradinho Dam

The Sobradinho Reservoir ( Lago de Sobradinho ) is a dam in the north of the Brazilian state of Bahia, was first built in 1972. There is also a town of the same name near the reservoir ( Sobradinho ), from which the name. The reservoir is about 320 km long, has an area of ​​4214 (or 4124? ) Square kilometers and a storage space of 34.1 cubic kilometers ( billion cubic meters ) at full water level of 392.50 meters above sea level, making it geographically the 12th - largest artificial lake in the world is. The lake is fed by the Rio São Francisco, which is one of the largest rivers in Brazil.

The shut-off, a dam, the dam Sobradinho has a maximum height of 41 ( or 43) feet and a crown length of 12.5 km.

The reservoir is used for generating electricity from hydropower and representing 60% of the hydropower resources of Northeast Brazil. It is operated by the CHESF ( Companhia Hidrelétrica do São Francisco). The connected hydropower plant has six Kaplan turbines and generators with rated outputs of each MW 175.05, a total of 1,050.3 MW. The memory contents is sufficient to supply the region for two years with energy, but the water flow is very irregular. In some years, the drought is so severe that the power supply is in danger. In October 2001, for example, only 5.46% of the work space of 28 billion cubic meters were filled. In July 2006, the dam, however, was well filled.

For the shipping, there is a lock, whose chamber is 120 meters long and 17 meters wide. With it, the ships can overcome the 32.5 m high barrier. Thus ship connections between Pirapora in Minas Gerais and Bahia, and Petrolina Juazeiro in are possible in Pernambuco, even if they ship connection is probably currently underused.

At that time more than 70 000 people were relocated for the construction of the reservoir, largely against their will. On the compensations for relocation and promised to support services for the evacuees is still partially disputed.