Paulo Afonso hydropower complex
The Paulo Afonso Hydropower Complex (Complexo Hidrelétrico de Paulo Afonso) is a system of three dams and five hydropower plants on the Rio São Francisco near the city of Paulo Afonso in Bahia , Brazil .
The complex
The complex takes advantage of the gradient of an 80 m high natural waterfall known as the Paulo Afonso Falls . Over time, several structures were built between 1948 and 1979: The Paulo Afonso I, II, III, IV and Apollonius Sales (Moxotó) power plants have a total of 23 turbines and generators with an installed capacity of 4279.6 MW .
Paulo Afonso I was the first large power plant in Brazil. The complex represents the densest network of dams in Brazil. The complex supplies the northeast of Brazil with electricity and is the main tourist attraction in the area.
Building history
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Paulo_Afonso_usina_hidreletrica_CHESF.jpg/220px-Paulo_Afonso_usina_hidreletrica_CHESF.jpg)
In 1913 the use of hydropower began at the falls with the small Angiquinho 1.1 MW power plant. In 1944, Paulo Afonso I approved the construction, initially with two generators. Construction began in 1948. On January 15, 1955, Brazilian President João inaugurated Café Filho PA I. In 1955 the third generator of PA I was put into operation and construction of PA II began.
In 1961 PA II was complete and on October 24th of that year the first generator went into operation. The other five generators were started between 1962 and December 18, 1967. Construction of PA III began soon after in 1967 and the first generator was running on October 21, 1971. The other generators were added between 1972 and 1974, the last on August 5, 1974. In 1971, construction continued with the Apollonius Sales (Moxotó) dam and hydroelectric power station, 4 km above the falls. Construction was completed in 1977 and the four generators went online in April of that year. In 1972 the construction of the last dam and its power plant, PA IV, began 2 km southwest of the falls. This construction was completed in 1979 and its first generator went online on December 1st, two more generators in 1980, two in 1981 and the last on May 28, 1983.
The construction of the dams caused a loss of 1,600 hectares of land and 52,000 people had to be relocated.
Buildings
Apollonius Sales (Moxotó)
The Appollonius Sales Dam and the associated power plant were originally known as Moxotó, but were renamed after Appollonius Sales, the founder of CHESF (Companhia Hidro-Elétrica do São Francisco, the operating company). The dam is a 30 m high, 2825 m long earth and rock embankment dam . The reservoir is 1,200 million m³, its surface covers 100 km² and the catchment area is 630,000 km². The main purpose of the dam and reservoir is to regulate the flow of water to PA I, II and III 4 km downwards. On the western side there is a flood relief with 20 closures with a total capacity of 28,000 m³ / s. The power plant is located on the east side of the dam and has four generators with Kaplan turbines . Each generator has a nominal output of 100 MW, a total of 400 MW.
Paulo Afonso I, II, III (Delmiro Gouveia)
The Delmiro-Gouveia dam is located directly at the top of the waterfalls. This supplies Paulo Afonso I, II and III with water. The dam is 20 m high, 4707 m long and is a concrete gravity dam . The reservoir has a volume of 26 million m³ and a surface of 4.8 km². The dam wall has a non-controllable overflow, an additional controllable flood relief in the outer area and then four more controllable outlets at the front of the waterfalls. These four outlets, when open, create the waterfall.
All three power plants are 82 m deep underground. PA I is housed in the middle in a 60 m long, 31 m high and 15 m wide cavern . There are three 60 MW generators with Francis turbines with an installed capacity of 180 MW. Westinghouse generators have vertical axes. The turbine manufacturer was Dominion Engineering Works (Andritz AG). The PA II powerhouse is 104 m long, 36 m high and 18 m wide. It contains six vertical generators and Francis turbines. Two generators have 70 MW, one 75 MW and the last three 76 MW, together 443 MW. The generators come from S. Morgan Smith and Hitachi , the turbines from Voith . The power house of PA III is 127 m long, 46 m high and 18 m wide. There are four 198.55 MW generators from Siemens with a total of 794.2 MW. All (Francis) turbines are from Voith.
Paulo Afonso IV
The Paulo Afonso dam is 2 km southwest of the falls and is 35 m high and 7430 m long. It is an earth and stone embankment, but 1053 m of it is made of concrete. There are the inlets for the power plant and the flood relief. The latter consists of eight closures and has a maximum drainage capacity of 10,000 m³. The structure dams a lake with a volume of 127.5 million m³ and a water surface of 12.9 km². Water flows to the reservoir through a canal that begins at the southern end of the Appolonius Sales Reservoir and continues south along the city. The PA IV power house is also underground and 210 m long, 52 m high and 24 m wide. There are six 410.4 MW generators with an installed capacity of 2,462.4 MW. Each generator is of the Siemens Sincrono Vertical type and uses vertical axis Francis turbines manufactured by Voith.
There was a problem of concrete swelling due to an alkali aggregate reaction (e.g. alkali-silica reaction ). This led to tensions and cracks in the concrete and as a result there were also mechanical problems such as B. an inclination of the turbine generator axis.
See also
Other dams on the Rio São Francisco are:
- Xingó
- Itaparica (Luiz Gonzaga)
- Três Marias
- Sobradinho
swell
- ↑ Paulo Afonso Hydroelectric Complex - Generation System (CHESF)
- ↑ http://ecen.com/eee32/sistelete.htm Omar Campos Ferreira: The Brazilian Electric System, Economy & Energy, June 2002
- ↑ a b Sandra Muccini: Uma Contribuição à historiografia de base locale, Rios Eletrônica - Revista Científica da FASETE, ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. August 2007, Volume 1 Issue 1.
- ^ A b Paulo Cabral: Blogging in Brazil: Day Nine, BBC News, July 3, 2003.
- ↑ a b c Description Advantage Paulo Afonso, CHESF
- ↑ a b Description Advantage Paulo Afonso II (CHESF)
- ↑ a b Description Advantage Paulo Afonso III (CHESF)
- ↑ a b Description Advantage Appolonius Sales (CHESF)
- ↑ a b Description Advantage Paulo Afonso IV (CHESF)
- ↑ Michael M. Cernea: Hydropower Dams and Social Impacts: A Sociological Perspective (World Bank) (PDF file)
- ↑ Adriana Fernandes, Ecotourism Hydroelectric: Power Plants Are Built into the Vegetation, ( Memento of the original of July 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. December 16, 2005.
- ↑ http://www.waterpowermagazine.com/features/featurewinning-the-battles-on-aar/
Web links
Coordinates: 9 ° 23 ′ 49 ″ S , 38 ° 12 ′ 8 ″ W.