Reclamation Engineer Conducts Dam Safety Training at World’s Second-Largest Hydroelectric Power Plant

Written by: Kristine Smith

Jay Stateler (center) with employees of Itaipu Binacional overlooking Itaipu Dam’s reservoir.Itaipu Dam, located between Brazil and Paraguay, is not just any dam. This “megadam,” named one of the seven modern wonders of the world by the American Society of Civil Engineers, is truly awe-inspiring.

Completed in 1984, Itaipu Dam consists of four dams joined together, spanning 4.8 miles in length. Its installed generation capacity of 14 gigawatts makes it the second largest hydroelectric power station in the world, after the Three Gorges Dam in China. Its maximum height of 196 meters is equivalent to a 65-story building. In 2016, Itaipu Dam produced a total of 103 megawatt hours of power, enough to provide all of Brazil with power for over two months, a new world record in annual electric production.

Itaipu Binacional, the entity that manages Itaipu Dam, is jointly managed by Brazil and Paraguay. The dam is located on the Parana River at the border between these two countries. The dam was the result of a diplomatic agreement between Brazil and Paraguay that settled a land dispute between the two nations by converting most of that land into the dam’s reservoir.

Amidst this backdrop, Reclamation Civil Engineer Jay Stateler traveled to Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, in May 2017, to provide reimbursable training and technical assistance. The training covered subjects such as potential failure modes for dams, instrumentation, visual inspections, dam aging, and lessons from dam incidents and failures.

Itaipu Binacional recently welcomed a number of new engineers to its staff, and this training was designed to help develop their professional knowledge. Itaipu Binacional was very pleased with Reclamation’s training. Silvia Frazao Matos, an employee in the Division of Architecture and Civil Engineering, told Mr. Stateler that “the course in Itaipu was excellent, we learned a lot from you.”

There is also much Reclamation can learn from a staff of professionals managing a structure of this size and complexity. The joint management of Itaipu Dam by Brazil and Paraguay was particularly impressive to Stateler, who described Itaipu Binacional as “very conscious of maintaining an equal balance of employees; they want things as close to 50-50 as possible, the two countries work incredibly well together.”

In describing the operations and maintenance at Itaipu Dam, Stateler observed, “The O&M work being done at Itaipu Dam is of the highest standard. Reclamation would do well to try and match the level of organization and quality of work routinely seen at the dam.”

One example is the attention to detail that Itaipu Binacional maintains on its dam safety monitoring program, employing a total of 10 engineers who exclusively focus on instrumentation data evaluation and routine visual monitoring.

Stateler’s trip highlights the benefits of working cooperatively with other countries. There is much to be learned from each other.

To learn more about Reclamation’s International Affairs Program, please visit www.usbr.gov/international.

Jay Stateler (second from right) with employees of Itaipu Binacional inspecting a hydropower turbine.

Published on August 09, 2017