Salto Grande Dam

Salto Grande Dam
The dam as seen from space
Location	Concordia Salto
Coordinates
Construction began	1974
Opening date	1979
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Uruguay River
Height	65 m (213 ft)
Length	3,000 m (9,800 ft)
Spillway capacity	64,000 m3/s (2,300,000 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Creates	Salto Grande Reservoir
Total capacity	5 km3 (4,100,000 acre⋅ft)
Catchment area	224,000 km2 (86,000 sq mi)
Surface area	783 km2 (302 sq mi)
Power station
Turbines	14 × 135 MW (181,000 hp)
Installed capacity	1,890 MW (2,530,000 hp)

The Salto Grande Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Uruguay River, located between Concordia, Argentina, and Salto, Uruguay; thus is shared between the two countries.

The construction of the dam began in 1974 and was completed in 1979. Power is generated by fourteen Kaplan turbines, totaling the installed capacity to 1,890 MW (2,530,000 hp). The dam passes approximately 64,000 cubic metres (2,300,000 cu ft) of water per second, compared to the current average flow of the Uruguay River at 4,622 cubic metres (163,200 cu ft). The reservoir has a total area of 783 square kilometres (302 sq mi), while its maximum dimensions are 140 by 9 kilometres (87.0 mi × 5.6 mi).

The Salto Grande dam

File:Salto Grande turbine room.JPG

Inside the generator hall

See also

• List of conventional hydroelectric power stations
• List of power stations in Argentina
• Salto Grande Waterfall