El Chocón

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El Chocón
El Chocón power plant
El Chocón power plant
Tributaries: Limay River
Drain: Limay River
El Chocón (Argentina)
El Chocón
Coordinates 39 ° 17 ′ 0 ″  S , 68 ° 48 ′ 0 ″  W Coordinates: 39 ° 17 ′ 0 ″  S , 68 ° 48 ′ 0 ″  W
Data on the structure
Lock type: Earthfill dam
Construction time: -1973
Height above valley floor: 71 m
Height above foundation level : 77 m (?)
Building volume: 13 million m³
Crown length: 2 500  m
Power plant output: 1 200  MW
Operator: Hidroeléctrica El Chocón SA
Data on the reservoir
Altitude (at congestion destination ) 381  m
Water surface 816 km²
Storage space 20,155 million m³
ISS012-E-13151 Limay River, El Chocón.jpg
El Chocón reservoir, photographed from the ISS . The dam is down, north is down left.

El Chocón (Spanish: Embalse El Chocón ) is the fourth of five dams on the Río Limay in the northwestern part of Patagonia (the Comahue region) in Argentina . The reservoir lies on the border of the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro . The dam's official name is Embalse Ezequiel Ramos Mexía (Ezequiel-Ramos-Mexía-Reservoir), but it is informally named after the settlement that served as a construction workers' camp in the 1970s and is now called Villa El Chocón. 957 inhabitants live in the village (as of 2001).

El Chocón is the largest hydropower plant in Patagonia. It is used to monitor and control the runoff in the Río Limay up to the Río Negro . The water is also used for irrigation. El Chocón was built by the state company Hidronor (Hidroeléctrica Norpatagónica), went into operation in 1973 and reached full capacity in 1978. Between 1974 and 1995, an average of 2,700 gigawatt hours of electricity was generated each year. In 1993 it was privatized and transferred to Hidroeléctrica El Chocón SA.

El Chocón is part of a larger hydropower system, which includes the Cerros Colorados complex on the Río Neuquén .

dam

The dam was built from earth and has a flood relief made of concrete. Around 13 million m³ of material were used. The dam is 2,500 m long (also 2,270 m are mentioned). Its maximum height above the river bed is 71 m. Other elevations from various sources are 65, 74, and 77 m, which may apply to other reference points. The headquarters building is 58.4 m.

Reservoir

The reservoir Lago Ezequiel Ramos Mexía has a maximum water surface of 816 square kilometers , an average depth of 24.7 m (the largest is 60 m), and a maximum volume of 20.155 billion cubic meters. The reservoir is used for sailing , sport fishing and other forms of recreational activities.

Hydroelectric power plant

The hydroelectric power plant has six vertical Francis turbines , each with a nominal output of 204.5 MW , which rotate at 88 revolutions per minute. That adds up to 1227 MW; however, the total output is usually given as 1200 MW. The generator output is 222 MVA for each generator and 180 MVA for the transformers .

Drain

The Río Limay has high discharge twice a year, in spring when the snowmelt in the Andes and in autumn due to rain. Its mean discharge here at the blocking point is 722 m³ / s, which is slightly less than the Elbe has at its mouth.

See also

Web links

Commons : El Chocón  - collection of images, videos and audio files