Itaipu Binacional is one of the largest hydroelectric plants in the world and a milestone in the history of engineering and cooperation between two countries, Brazil and Paraguay.
Since its construction in 1984, the plant has been responsible for generating energy for millions of people, boosting the economic and social development of the region and becoming an important tourist destination.
However, there are many surprising facts and curiosities about Itaipu that most people are unaware of.
In this article, we will present 7 of these facts. Come and discover more about this incredible work of modern engineering!
01 – Itaipu: the stone that sings
In 1973, some technicians traveled the river by boat to discover the best point for building the Itaipu Hydroelectric Plant. After much research and studies with the help of a ferry, the location was finally chosen.
In the heart of South America, Brazilians and Paraguayans find a stretch of river known as Itaipu, whose term, in Tupi, means “the stone that sings”.
In that location, just after a sharp bend in the river and a few kilometers from the confluence with the Iguaçu River, there was an island, most of the time submerged, also called Itaipu.
Studies indicated that there was an exceptional energy yield at that point, due to a long canyon excavated by the Paraná River.
02 – The first step of an epic (epic poem)
The construction of the Itaipu Binational – considered by the US magazine “Popular Mechanics” to be a work of Hercules – began in 1974, when the first machines arrived at the future construction site.
In the second half of that year, the pioneer camp was built, with the first buildings for an office, warehouse, cafeteria, workers' accommodation, and gas station, a place that still exists today.
03 – A city named Itaipu
The region began to transform into a huge human “anthill”, as between 1975 and 1978, countless houses were built in the vicinity of where Itaipu Binacional would be located, to house the men who would work on the project.
In this period, Foz do Iguacu It was a small city with only two paved streets and has around 20 thousand inhabitants. In ten years, with the arrival of workers to work at the Itaipu Hydroelectric Plant, this population increased to 101.447 inhabitants.
Already at the construction sites, the first step was to change the course of the Paraná River, removing 55 million cubic meters of earth and rock to excavate a 2 km diversion. How must this have been done? I'd love to know.
04 – The famous “Paranazão” says goodbye to his bed
Itaipu Binacional becomes an irreversible reality. The excavation of the Paraná River diversion was completed within the stipulated deadline, and on October 20, 1978, 58 tons of dynamite exploded the two cofferdams that protected the construction of the new course.
The diversion is 2 km long, 150 meters wide and 90 meters deep. On the same day, a US$800 million contract, which guarantees the purchase of turbines and turbo-generators, is signed. The new channel allows a section of the original riverbed to be dried, so that the main concrete dam can be built there.
The Itaipu Plant was the only major national project to survive the most acute phase of the Brazilian economic crisis in the late 1970s, maintaining its status as an absolute priority.
05 – All roads lead to Itaipu
In 1980, the transport of materials for Itaipu Binacional involved 20.113 trucks and 6.648 railway wagons. The demand for labor causes huge queues at the consortia's sorting centers.
Between 1978 and 1981, up to 5 thousand people were hired per month. Throughout the project, due to the extensive construction period and labor turnover, the Unicon consortium alone registered around 100 thousand workers.
At the peak of dam construction, Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant directly mobilized around 40 workers at the construction site and support offices in Brazil and abroad. Paraguay.
06 – Not even the roads expected a project of this magnitude
With the dam almost ready, the next step is the assembly of the generating units. Transporting entire parts from manufacturers to the plant becomes a challenge.
The first turbine wheel, weighing 300 tons, left São Paulo on December 4, 1981 and arrived at the construction site only on March 3, 1982.
As the road network and some existing bridges on several alternative routes were unable to support the weight, the trailer carrying the piece had to travel the longest route, 1.350 km.
The transportation of turbine wheels would become more agile later. The record was 26 days of travel between the factory and the plant.
07 – The Paraná River x concrete wall called Itaipu
Finally, in 1982 the work on the dam at the Itaipu Plant came to an end. But work on the hydroelectric plant does not stop.
The closing of the gates of the diversion channel to form the plant's reservoir begins the Mymba Kuera operation (which in Tupi-Guarani means “bug catch”).
The operation saves the lives of 36.450 animals that lived in the area to be flooded by the lake. Due to heavy rains and floods at the time, the currents of the Paraná River took 14 days to fill the reservoir. The water depth totals 135 thousand hectares or four times the size of Guanabara Bay.
On November 5, 1982, with the reservoir already formed, the presidents of Brazil, João Figueiredo, and of Paraguay, Alfredo Stroessner, activate the mechanism that automatically raises the spillway's 14 gates, releasing the dammed water from the Paraná River and, thus, , officially inaugurate the largest hydroelectric plant in the world, after more than 50 thousand hours of work.
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