Itaipu Dam: South America’s Renewable Energy Giant

Technology should benefit humanity. One of the most remarkable examples of technology’s potential to provide enduring benefits is the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, a massive binational energy project between Brazil and Paraguay. Built on the Paraná River, which forms part of the border between the two nations, Itaipu transformed a once-contested hydroelectric resource into a shared engine of economic progress.

The power plant has held many records. For decades, it was the world’s largest hydroelectric facility; the dam spans the river’s 7.9-kilometer width and reaches a height of 196 meters.Itaipu was also the first hydropower plant to generate more than 100 terawatt hours of electricity in a year.

To acknowledge Itaipu’s monumental engineering achievement, on 4 March the dam was recognized as an IEEE Milestone during a ceremony in Hernandarias, Paraguay. The ceremony commemorated the project’s impact on engineering and energy production.

Itaipu’s massive scale

By the late 1960s, Brazil and Paraguay recognized the Paraná River’s untapped hydroelectric potential, according to the Global Infrastructure Hub. Brazil, which was undergoing rapid industrialization, sought a stable, renewable energy source to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Paraguay, lacking the financial resources to construct a gigawatt-scale hydroelectric facility independently, entered into a treaty with Brazil in 1973. The agreement granted both countries equal ownership of the dam and its power generation.

Construction began in 1975 and was completed in 1984, costing US $19.6 billion. The scale of the project was staggering. Engineers excavated 50 million cubic meters of earth and rock, poured 12.3 million cubic meters of concrete, and used enough iron and steel to construct 380 Eiffel Towers.

Itaipu was designed for continuous expansion. It initially launched with two 700-megawatt turbine units, providing 1.4 gigawatts of capacity. By 1991, the power plant reached its planned 12.6 GW capacity. In 2006 and 2007, it was expanded to 14 GW with the addition of two more units, for a total of 20. Although China’s 22.5-GW Three Gorges Dam, on the Yangtze River near the city of Yichang, surpassed Itaipu’s capacity in 2012, the South American dam remains one of the world’s most productive hydroelectric facilities.

On average, Itaipu generates around 90 terawatt-hours of electricity annually. It set a record by generating 103.1 TWh in 2016 (surpassed in 2020 by Three Gorges’ 111.8-TWh output). To put 100 TWh into perspective, a power plant would need to burn approximately 50 million tonnes of coal to produce the same amount of energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

By harnessing 62,200 cubic meters of river water per second, Itaipu prevents the release of nearly 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. During its 40-year lifetime, the dam has generated more than 3,000 TWh of electricity, meeting nearly 90 percent of…