2004-11-15 - Gurani Indians named a large rock island in the fast-flowing Paraná River on the border of Brazil and Paraguay “the singing stone.” Today, it is the site of the world’s biggest hydroelectric power plant, a binational project delivering immense amounts of electricity using advanced ABB power technologies. This technical marvel is still called Itaipu - the singing stone.
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Editorial services
2004 marks the 20th year since the Itaipu power plant was commissioned, and a series of customer and media events are planned at the site between November 15 and 18. ABB products and skill have helped shape Itaipu into a reliable, efficient power supply supporting South America’s biggest economy.
With 14,000 MW, Itaipu provides nearly 30 percent of Brazil’s power needs, and more than 90 percent of the needs of neighboring Paraguay.
A binational project supporting the power needs of both Paraguay and Brazil, some of Itaipu’s huge power generators produce power at 50 Hz (the frequency in Paraguay), while the others generate electricity at 60 Hz (the frequency of Brazil).
 | Brazil can use the power Paraguay does not need, but must convert it from 50 Hz to 60 Hz. To do that efficiently, ABB built HVDC transmission lines with a total rated power of 6,300 megawatts and ±600 kilovolts DC. Even 20 years after its commissioning, this scheme still holds the world record in voltage. |
50/20 anniversaries
This year also celebrates the 50th anniversary of HVDC technology, pioneered by ABB, so it is particularly fitting that ABB mark the 20th anniversary of the commissioning of Itaipu, since the scale and technical complexity of the project was a challenge that actually marks the beginning of the modern HVDC era.
The experience gained at Itaipu helped pave the way for the many HVDC orders ABB has since won.
As Peter Smits, head of ABB’s Power Technologies division, remarked on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of HVDC technology in Visby, Sweden earlier this year: “ABB’s technology know-how, coupled with our top quality equipment, local expertise and pioneering spirit, have made us the undisputed market leader in HVDC technology. Our HVDC technology has been used in every continent, bringing benefits to utilities and industries, as well as consumers.”
ABB and Itaipu
But HVDC is by no means the only story at Itaipu. ABB also stabilized and increased the power load on the AC transmission corridor from the power plant by installing seven banks of 800 kV series capacitors from its flexible alternating current transmission systems (FACTS) family.
The world’s first series compensator installations at the 800 kV voltage level allow maximum power transfers over the 900 kilometer-long AC transmission link from Itaipu to Rio de Janeiro and the biggest city in South America - São Paulo (population 18 million).
Itaipu power plant also contains the largest 550 kV gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) installation in the world, at least until the Three Gorges power plant is completely operative.
ABB’s GIS is small enough to fit between the generator hall and the wall of the dam for maximum use of available space in a compact power station design.
And an ABB Ranger power plant control system (since folded into Network Manager) controls the Itaipu plant.
The fact of the matter
Itaipu was built on a mind-boggling scale:
- enough iron and steel to build 380 Eiffel Towers
- excavated earth and rock equivalent to two Sugar Loaf mountains in Rio de Janeiro
- power equivalent to burning 433,000 barrels of oil per day, or building ten medium-sized nuclear power stations
- rate of construction equal to building one 20-story building every 55 minutes
- enough concrete to build 210 football stadiums (200,000 person capacity)
- main dam as high as a 65-storey building
The powerhouse that can generate more than 14,000 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power the state of California or the combined power demand of Switzerland and Austria. It also contains turbine tunnels so vast the Brazil Symphony Orchestra gave a concert in one.
Special attention
Before the filling of the reservoir, special attention was given to recovering and preserving materials of archeological and historical interest, safeguarding the cultural memory, and protecting the natural ecosystems.
Itaipu invites comparisons with China’s Three Gorges hydroelectric power plant, and has been eclipsed by that massive project to some extent, but Itaipu’s power production is truly awesome and unbeaten to date: 93.4 billion kilowatt hours per year, an output attained even before two additional generators were commissioned in 2004.