Guri Dam is one of the largest in the world.
It is
located in Bolívar
State
, Venezuela
in the Caroni
River. Its official name is
Central Hidroeléctrica
Simón Bolívar
(previously named
Central Hidroeléctrica Raúl Leoni from 1978 to 2000). It is
1300 meters long and 162 m high. The construction started in 1963
with the first part concluding in 1978 and the second one in
1986.
It has long been the focus of much controversy, as the lake created
by the dam forever destroyed thousands of square miles of forest
formerly renowned for its
biodiversity
and rare
wildlife, including the only place
where the recently-discovered
Carrizal Seedeater (a finch-like
tanager) was ever found.
There are two machine rooms with ten generators each producing a
total of 87 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and saves 300,000
barrels of oil a day. The walls in room number two were decorated
by the kinetic Venezuelan artist
Carlos Cruz-Díez.
The Hydroelectric Power station Guri, was constructed in the
Necuima Canyon, 100 kilometers waters above of the mouth of the
Caroní River in the Orinoco. The development of Guri in his first
stage began in 1963 and was finalized in 1978 with a capacity of
2,065 megawatts in 10 units and with the dam to a maximum level of
215 meters above the level of the sea. The final stage of the dam
of Guri concluded in 1986 and allowed to elevate the level of the
dam to the maximum level of 272 m a.s.l., being constructed the
second power plant that houses 10 units of 630 MW each. At the
present moment Guri occupies the third place in hydroelectric
plants in the World, with his 10,200
MW of
installed capacity total. As far as the Guri dam is in eighth place
between the ten of greater volume of water dammed in the
World.
It was once the first worldwide on installed capacity, replacing
Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP and surpassed by Itaipu HPP. It is in 2009
third place in the world.
Since 2000, there is an on-going Refurbishment Project on Guri
Power Plant with the goal to extend for 30 years the operation of
Guri: according to this project Guri have 5 new runners and main
components on Powerhouse II and close to the end of 2007, is
starting the rehabilitation of four units on Powerhouse I.
Every rainy season on Venezuela, it's possible to see an amazing
show when the spillways are open because Guri Lake level is close
to 272.00 m ASL.
Thanks to the Guri Dam and the government policy commenced in the
1960s to produce as least energy from fossil fuels to be able to
export the most oil, makes Venezuela a nation where 82% of its
electricity comes from
renewable
energy like
hydroelectric
power.
There are other dams across Venezuela serving local needs.
See also
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