The Manuel Piar Hydroelectric Power Plant (Tocoma Dam) is a stalled
hydroelectric development project in the Lower
Caroní River
The Caroní River is the second most important river of Venezuela, the second in flow, and one of the longest, from the Kukenan tepui through to its confluence with the Orinoco River. The name "Caroní" is applied starting from the confluence ...
Basin of
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. The project, started in 2006, includes the installation of
MW to generate annual average energy of . As of 2019, the project is unfinished.
The project was awarded to OIV consortium, consisting of
Odebrecht
Odebrecht S.A. (), officially known as Novonor, is a Brazilian conglomerate, headquartered in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, consisting of diversified businesses in the fields of engineering, construction, chemicals and petrochemicals. The company w ...
(50%),
Salini Impregilo
Webuild SpA (formerly Salini Impregilo SpA) () is an Italian industrial group specialised in the construction and civil engineering business headquartered in Milan. The company was formally founded in 2014 as the result of the merger by incorporat ...
(40%) and
Vinccler (10%), with an initial budget
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
3,061 mil. Ten Kaplan generator units, of , manufactured by an Argentinian company , were predicted to begin operations between 2012 and 2014. These units had the world record as of 2012 in power generation at nominal head for Kaplan turbines. The diameter of the runner is and nominal head is with claimed output up to .
The first generator was installed but not yet commissioned in April 2012. Behind schedule, the dam began to impound its reservoir on 16 November 2015. The budget tripled to $9,4 billion in 2017, as of 2019 the project is still unfinished.
Odebrecht spent between 2007 and 2015 at least $118 million on
bribes related to the project.
References
Dams under construction
Hydroelectric power stations in Venezuela
Dams in Venezuela
{{Hydroelectric-power-plant-stub