Chixoy hydroelectric dam
Encyclopedia
The Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam (Spanish: Planta Hidroeléctrica Chixoy) is a reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...

 dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 and power plant spanning the Chixoy River
Chixoy River
The Chixoy River or Río Negro is a river in Guatemala. The river is called Río Negro from its sources in the highlands of Huehuetenango and El Quiché until it reaches the Chixoy hydroelectric dam , where the Río Salamá and Rio Carchela converge with the Río Negro...

 between the Departments of Baja Verapaz
Baja Verapaz
Baja Verapaz is a department in Guatemala. The capital is Salamá.Baja Verapaz houses the Mario Dary Biotope Preserve, preserving the native flora and fauna of the region, especially the endangered national bird of Guatemala, the Resplendent Quetzal....

, El Quiché and Alta Verapaz
Alta Verapaz
Alta Verapaz is a department in the north central part of Guatemala. The capital and chief city of the department is Cobán. Verapaz is bordered to the north by El Petén, to the east by Izabal, to the south by Zacapa, El Progreso, and Baja Verapaz, and to the west by El Quiché.Also in Alta Verapaz...

, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

. It is the largest structure of its kind in the country.

It was built between 1976 and 1985 and it generates approximately 15% of the country's power.

History

Construction on the dam started in 1976, with funding from the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

 and the Inter-American Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...

. Major redesign work was needed to address adjusted seismic criteria for the dam and tunnelling works, following the heavy 1976 earthquake
1976 Guatemala earthquake
The 1976 Guatemala earthquake struck on February 4, 1976 at 03:01:43 local time . It was a 7.5 Mw earthquake, centered in the Motagua Fault, about 160 km northeast of Guatemala City, Guatemala...

. Additional costs were made to correct engineering errors, and to finance repairs to tunnel damage in the first year of operation, resulting in substantial over-budgeting. From the US$ 372.7 million calculated costs in 1978, the Chixoy project ended up costing US$ 944 million.

The construction of the dam, and its reservoir, displaced several local communities with a total population of 3,445 people. Community resettlement efforts were poorly handled by the consecutive military governments at the time. Subsequent popular protests and claims were met with extremely brutal repression by government forces, and culminated in what is known as the Río Negro Massacre
Río Negro Massacre
In 1978, in the face of civil war, the Guatemalan government proceeded with its economic development program, including the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam. Financed in large part by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, the Chixoy Dam was built in Rabinal, a region of...

s. Claims have not yet been settled 25 years after the hydro-electric plant went into operation.

Power plant

The hydroelectric plant has 5 x 60 MWe
MWE
MWE may refer to:*Manufacturer's Weight Empty*McDermott Will & Emery*Midwest Express, an airline*Merowe Airport - IATA code*Multiword expressionMWe may refer to:*Megawatt electrical...

 Kaplan turbine
Kaplan turbine
The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by the Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and...

s with an effective capacity of 275 MWe, which is approximately 15% of Guatemala's total electricity production (2006) and 60% of INDE's electricity production. A 26 km long tunneling system with an elevation difference of 433 m, feeds the water to the plant's turbines.

External links

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