The is a dam on the Ōi River in Aoi-ku,

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

on the island of

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. A hollow-core concrete

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...

, it has a hydroelectric power generating station owned by the

Chubu Electric Power Company , abbreviated as Chuden in Japanese, is a Japanese electric utilities provider for the middle Chūbu region of the Honshu island of Japan. It provides electricity at 60 Hz, though an area of Nagano Prefecture uses 50 Hz. Chubu Electric ...

History

The potential of the Ōi River valley for hydroelectric power development was realized by the Meiji government at the start of the 20th century. The Ōi River was characterized by a high volume of flow and a fast current. Its mountainous upper reaches and tributaries were areas of steep valleys and abundant rainfall, and were sparsely populated. Design work began in 1902 by the and the first dam on the Ōi River (the

Tashiro Dam The is a dam on the Ōi River in Aoi-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture on the island of Honshū, Japan. It was the first concrete gravity dam to be constructed on the Ōi River, and has a hydroelectric power generating station owned by the Toky ...

) was completed in 1927. Further work was suspended by the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of the 1930s, and World War II in the 1940s. However, by the early 1950s, Japan’s need for electrical energy was growing exponentially. The Ōigawa Railway Ikawa Line was expanded to facilitate dam construction, and the newly created Chubu Electric Power Company received a loan from the United Nations Bank for Reconstruction and Development on September 10, 1958 to fund the project. Construction was completed by December 1961, and the system came into operation in early 1962.

Design

The Hatanagi Project was designed as a

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential ...

facility, with the discharge from Hatanagi-I discharging through a five kilometer penstock into a lake created by the smaller Hatanagi No.2 Dam downstream. The reversible turbine generators at the Hatanagi No.1 power plant were designed to function as either electrical power generators, or as pumps, to reverse the flow of water back into the reservoir in times of low demand. The generators at the Hatanagi No.1 power plant have a capacity of 137,000 kW, and a maximum flow rate of 137 m³/s. The Hatanagi No.2 power plant adds an additional 85,000 kW to the

electrical grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

of the Tōkai region of central Japan.

Surroundings

The Hatanagi-II is located in the

Minami Alps National Park is a national park in the Akaishi Mountains, Chūbu region, Honshū, Japan. The Minami Alps National Park was established on June 1, 1964. It extends along the border of Shizuoka, Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures for a length of , and a ...

, an area of high mountains, forests, and a popular vacation area. Public access to the dam and its lake are by Shizuoka Prefectural Road 60, with bus connections to

Ikawa Station is a railway station Aoi-ku, Shizuoka, Japan, operated by the Ōigawa Railway. At an altitude of , it is the highest railway station in Shizuoka Prefecture. Lines Ikawa Station is a terminus of the Ikawa Line, and is located 25.5 kilometers f ...

or directly with Shizuoka Station or

Shin-Shizuoka Station 270px, former station building is a railway station in Aoi-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway company, Shizuoka Railway (Shizutetsu). It is located within the Shin-Shizuoka Cenova shopping complex. Lines ...

. The dam itself and its associated electrical power plant are not open to the public.

Notes

* Japan Commission on Large Dams. ''Dams in Japan: Past, Present and Future''. CRC Press (2009).

References

Chubu Electric home page

Nations Treaty Organization
{{Dams in Shizuoka Prefecture Gravity dams Dams in Shizuoka Prefecture Hydroelectric power stations in Japan Dams completed in 1961

History

Design

Surroundings

See also

Notes

References