An engineering milestone on Brazil-Uruguay Border – Itaipu

On the border of Brazil and Paraguay, on Parana River, is the Itaipu hydroelectric dam. The main brain behind the dam was that of Engineer Piero Sembenalli.

How to reach Itaipu

Uruguay and Brazil, both are easily accessible South American cities from anywhere in the world and both have a well-developed transport system.

When to go Itaipu

The tour is shut on Sundays and on public holidays.

Facts about Itaipu

This is one of the largest dams and in fact was included in the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in 1994 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The name of the dam – Itaipu, means the ‘sound of stone’ and was an inspiration from an isle close to the site of dam’s construction. This dam is functional since 1984.

In terms of its generating capacity, it is second to the Three Gorges Dam and is run by the Itaipu Binacional Company.

About 90 per cent of energy supply of Paraguay and about 25 per cent of that in Brazil comes from Itaipu.

Apart from being a source of hydro-electricity, the dam is also an attraction for tourists.  Your tour of the dam will kick off by a film on the dam’s construction screened at the Visitor’s Center and a bus-ride around the dam with a few look-out points. For security reasons, your bus will stop for a view only at these points.

You will also be taken to the Concrete Dam, in the Production Building from where you can see the Cathedrals, to the Central Command Room and to the Gallery from where you can see giant lids by which the generating units of the dams are covered.

You will also enjoy a visit to the Eco-museum of Itaipu Dam, where you can see on display information about the history of this region since the past 6000 years, models of the dam, maps that show you the region before and after the dam, archaeological and ecological samples and a representation of the ambience of native forest, among other interesting things.

For technicians, engineering students and engineers themselves, the tours are different and designed in a different way. They have the opportunity to look at the functioning of the dam more closely and they can also access the axis of the turbine. They do need to book the tour at least a week or two in advance.

It’s a landmark on the Uruguay- Brazil Border, a little distant from the Friendship Bridge, to its north, and while one may appreciate the magnitude of engineering skill that went into the construction of this dam, its erection was not a smooth process.

The dam of course, faced a lot of criticism and rightly so. Thousands of families living on the banks of the River of Parana were displaced and were also deprived of their settled livelihood. The dam construction flooded the Guaira Falls and as a result of which this scenic beauty and the eco-system around it, both were destroyed.