Storm knocks out 5 Itaipu turbines, forces power plant on Brazil/Paraguay border to release water

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A storm in western Paraná on Saturday, October 23, interrupted the operation of transmission lines connecting the Itaipu binational hydropower plant to the interconnected national grid (SIN), automatically shutting down five of the plant’s 20 turbines for safety reasons.

The Itaipu dam’s hydroelectric power plant produced the second most electricity of any in the world as of 2020, only surpassed by China’s Three Gorges Dam plant in electricity production.

As a result of the drop in power generation, the water level and the level of the Paraná River fell downstream of the power plant. Since the tripartite agreement – which includes Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina – limits the fluctuations of the Paraná River, it was necessary to open the power plant’s spillway at 2:30 PM to temporarily compensate for the fluctuations in water level caused by the shutdown of the five power plant units, Itaipu said in a statement.

According to Itaipu, the spillway remained open for the period and at the flow levels that were necessary to compensate for the partial drop in power generation.

“As Itaipu was requested to restore the original power generation, the spilled power was reduced until the complete closure of the spillway at 10:28 PM on Saturday,” the company said.

According to the hydroelectric company, the storm did not affect the facilities of the Itaipu power plant, which continues to operate normally and provide full power and energy.

ITAIPU DAM

The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The construction of the dam was first contested by Argentina, but the negotiations and resolution of the dispute set the basis for Argentine–Brazilian integration later on.

Of the twenty generator units currently installed, ten generate at 50 Hz for Paraguay, and ten generate at 60 Hz for Brazil.

Since the output capacity of the Paraguayan generators far exceeds the load in Paraguay, most of their production is exported directly to the Brazilian side, from where two 600 kV HVDC lines, each approximately 800 kilometers (500 mi) long, carry the majority of the energy to the São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro region.