What are the main purposes of the Guri Dam?
Guri Dam on the Caroní River, Bolívar State, Venez. The reservoir impounded by the dam had a capacity of 111,877,000 acre-feet (138,000,000,000 cubic m), permitting its use for flood storage as well as floodwater evacuation.
What did the dam project in Venezuela do?
It created a reservoir which is the largest fresh water body of water in Venezuela and one of the largest man-made blackwater lakes ever created, with its water level at 215 metres above sea level. The power station had a combined installed capacity of 1750 megawatts (MW).
How many kwh does Guri Dam produce per year?
approximately 50,000GW/h
“The Guri hydroelectric power plant provides approximately 50,000GW/h of energy to Venezuela annually.” The feasibility studies for constructing the power plant started in 1961. Harza Engineering Co International carried out both technical and economic studies.
What do hydroelectric dams use to turn turbines?
A coal-fired power plant uses steam to turn the turbine blades; whereas a hydroelectric plant uses falling water to turn the turbine.
What is Venezuela’s Guri Dam claim to fame?
The Guri reservoir has become a symbol of Venezuela’s electricity problems, with demand outpacing supply. Image: Corpoelec. At the Guri Dam lies the heart of Venezuela’s electricity system.
How much did the Guri Dam cost?
It is 7,426 metres long and 162 m high. It impounds the large Guri Reservoir (Embalse de Guri)with a surface area of 4,250 square kilometres (1,641 sq mi). It total cost US $850 million (in 1960). The Guri Reservoir that supplies the dam is one of the largest on earth.
How was Lake Guri created?
Located in the eastern reaches of Venezuela, Lake Guri and hundreds of its islands are completely manmade. Their creation is the result of a large hydroelectric project which included the building of several dams to provide electricity for millions.
How does a hydroelectric dam generate electricity?
Hydroelectric power is produced with moving water At hydropower plants water flows through a pipe, or penstock, then pushes against and turns blades in a turbine to spin a generator to produce electricity. Run-of-the-river systems, where the force of the river’s current applies pressure on a turbine.
Is hydroelectric power renewable?
Hydropower, or hydroenergy, is a form of renewable energy that uses the water stored in dams, as well as flowing in rivers to create electricity in hydropower plants.
What dam produces the most electricity?
Three Gorges Dam
Three Gorges Dam, China is the world’s largest hydroelectric facility. In 2012, the Three Gorges Dam in China took over the #1 spot of the largest hydroelectric dam (in electricity production), replacing the Itaipú hydroelectric power plant in Brazil and Paraguay.
Where is the Guri hydroelectric power plant located?
The Guri hydroelectric power plant is situated 100km upstream of the Caroni River in Necuima Canyon in Orinoco, Venezuela. The power plant has an installed capacity of 10,200MW and is the third largest power plant in the world. Venezuelan power company CVG Electrification del Caroni CA (Edelca) operates and maintains the power plant.
How much power does the Guri Dam produce?
The plant provides approximately 50,000GW/h of energy to the country annually. The Guri dam measures 532ft in height and 4,314ft in length. The plant contains three high-voltage switchyards, running at 800kV, 400kV and 230kV. The switchyards are arranged in a breaker-and-half configuration.
When was the first Francis turbine supplied to the Guri Power Plant?
The company supplied the first of the Francis turbines, weighing 200t, to the Guri power plant in the third quarter of 2009. In May 2009, Alstom Hydro received a second contract worth €31m from Edelca to refurbish five 630MW generators of powerhouse II of the power plant.
Why is the Guri Dam so important to Venezuela?
As of 2006 the Guri Dam alone supplied more than a third of Venezuela’s electricity Parts of the power generated at Guri is exported to Colombia and Brazil. The risks of this strategy became apparent in 2010, when, due to a prolonged drought, water levels were too low to produce enough electricity to meet demand.