The Cerrón Grande Hydroelectric Dam (Spanish: ''Central Hidroeléctrica Cerrón Grande'') spans the
Lempa River
The Lempa River ( es, Río Lempa) is a river in Central America.
Geography
Its sources are located in between the Sierra Madre and the Sierra del Merendón in southern Guatemala, near the town of Olopa. In Guatemala the river is called ''Rí ...
north of
San Salvador in the municipalities of
Potonico, (
Chalatenango) and
Jutiapa
Jutiapa is a city and a municipality in the Jutiapa department of Guatemala.
Located 124 km from the city of Guatemala City, at an altitude of 892 m (2,926 ft), (
Cabañas) in
El Salvador.
The concrete gravity dam has a height of and a length of . The dam's reservoir has a surface area of and a capacity of .
The hydroelectric power plant was fitted with 2 x 67.5
MWe
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
Francis turbines with a total capacity of 135 Mwe. Major maintenance work carried out between 2003 and 2007 included replacing the turbines with 2 x 85 MWe units with a total capacity of 170 MWe, which generate 488
GWh per year.
Cerrón Grande Reservoir
The
Cerrón Grande Reservoir (Spanish: ''Embalse Cerrón Grande''), locally known as Lake Suchitlán, is the largest body of fresh water in El Salvador.
In 2005, the reservoir and approximately of adjacent area was listed as a "Wetland of International Importance" under the
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on W ...
. The area provides a habitat for large numbers of waterbird, duck and fish species.
History
Because of the construction of the Cerron Grande Hydroelectric Dam, over 13,000 people were displaced with many ''cantons'' or ''townships, caserios'' or ''hamlets,'' churches, cemeteries, and over 20 significant archaeological sites being lost in the process including
Canton El Tablon and Canton San Juan in Suchitoto, Cuscatlan.
See also
*
Electricity sector in El Salvador
References
Hydroelectric power stations in El Salvador
Dams in El Salvador
Dams completed in 1976
Ramsar sites in El Salvador
Cabañas Department
Chalatenango Department
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