The Governor José Richa Hydroelectric Plant, formerly known as Salto Caxias, is a dam and

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 plant on the

Iguazu River __NOTOC__ The Iguazu River ( pt, Rio Iguaçu, br , es, Río Iguazú} ), also called Rio Iguassu, is a river in Brazil and Argentina. It is an important tributary of the Paraná River. The Iguazu River is long, with a drainage basin of . Cou ...

near Caxias in Paraná, Brazil. It is the first dam upstream of the Iguazu Falls and was constructed between 1995 and 1999. The power station has a capacity and is supplied with water by a

roller-compacted concrete Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for Po ...

gravity dam. It is owned and operated by Copel who renamed it after

José Richa José Richa (11 September 1934 – 17 December 2003) was a Brazilian politician who served as a senator of the state of Paraná (state), Paraná from 1987 to 1995, earlier having served as governor from 1983 to 1986. Prior to serving these positio ...

, governor of Paraná between 1983 and 1986.

José Richa Dam

The José Richa Dam is high, long and was built with roller-compacted concrete. It is the eighth largest of its type in the world. The dam's designer, Intertechne Consultores Associados, along with Copel decided on an RCC design as it would be 25% cheaper than an embankment dam. Cracks were noticed in the dam during inundation in 1998 and Copel announced a plan to repair them in 2005. The dam's spillway contains 14 wide and high radial gates, and has a maximum capacity of . On the western portion of the dam, 15 sluice gates feed water from the reservoir into the power plant's intake channel.

Power plant

Water from the dam's intake channel is fed into the power station by means of four diameter and long

carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

penstocks. The power station is long and contains four generators manufactured by Ansaldo Coemsa. Each generator is power by a vertical-shaft

Francis turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proces ...

manufactured by Kvaerner.

Resettlement program

25% of the dam's $1 billion cost was involved in a resettlement program for the 1,000 families displace by the reservoir. The program included building community centers, roads, churches along with paying for healthcare, environmental protection and land provisions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jose Richa Hydroelectric Plant Energy infrastructure completed in 1999 Hydroelectric power stations in Paraná (state) Dams in Paraná (state) Dams on the Iguazu River Roller-compacted concrete dams Gravity dams Dams completed in 1999 1999 establishments in Brazil

José Richa Dam

Power plant

Resettlement program

See also

References