The Shweli I Dam is a
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. ...
on the
Shweli River about southwest of
Namhkam in
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. The primary purpose of the dam is
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
power generation and it supports a power station. Water from the dam's reservoir is diverted through a long headrace tunnel to the power station downstream. The drop in elevation affords a
hydraulic head
Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22.
It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, ...
of . Construction on the dam began in 2002 and the river was diverted on 10 December 2006. On 5 September 2008, the first generator was commissioned and the last of the six was commissioned in April 2009. The dam and power station was constructed under the
build–operate–transfer method and cost US$756.2 million. It is owned and operated by the Shweli River-I Power Station Co. The
Shweli II and
Shweli III Dams are planned downstream.
Gallery
Shweli 1 power station.jpg, Power house
Shweli I spillway.jpg, Spillway
Shweli I tailrace.jpg, Tailrace gate
Shweli I dam.jpg, Dam
Shweli I turbines2.jpg, Turbines
Shweli I control room.jpg, Central Control room
See also
*
Dams in Burma
There are almost 200 large dams in Myanmar.CHINA IN BURMA: THE INCREASING INVESTMENT OF CHINESE MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN BURMA’S HYDROPOWER, OIL AND NATURAL GAS, AND MINING SECTOR BURMA’S HYDROPOWER OIL AND NATURAL GAS, AND MINING SECTORS ...
*
List of power stations in Burma
References
{{reflist
Dams completed in 2008
Dams in Myanmar
Gravity dams
Buildings and structures in Shan State