Notable Hydroelectric Dams
Ever since man saw beavers using sticks and muds to change the shapes of rivers and land it was only a matter of time before we tried to do it ourselves. Water is single largest thing that transforms the world and it does so in a number of ways. Immense frozen glaciers carve out valleys and mountains with their unrelenting force, great rivers deposit tons of sediment that rain has washed into their loamy reaches, and the oceans tides lap gently or crash roughly onto every shore "" a slow and steady attack on land. Water has shaped the world in more ways than just physical ones. Man has been able to harness the power of water to bring electricity to billions of people around the world. Hydroelectric generators provide a constant source of power due to their locations on rivers and tidal berths that provide a steady flow of water that powers the generators turbines. Below are some of the most notable hydroelectric dams to date.
Three Gorges Dam
This is the biggest hydroelectric generator in the world and is capable of putting out twenty two thousand and five hundred mega watts of power. The Three Gorges Dam was completed just this last July, although construction began six years ago in two thousand and six. The major power generator spans the great Yangtze River and is near the town of Sandouping. All in all, Three Gorges houses thirty two generators in all.
Itaipu Dam
The second largest dam in the world was created as a joint venture by Brazil and Paraguay to sate the two nations growing energy demands. The dam has a longer history than that of Three Gorges in that construction began in 1970 and has continued to within the last few years. An engineering feat of epic proportions, the entire Parana River (the seventh largest river in the world) was rerouted with fifty million tons of earth and rock being moved. The reservoir created by Itaipu Dam eventually drowned the once largest water fall in the world, The Guaira Falls. The generators produce fourteen thousand mega watts per year.
Grand Coulee Dam
A topic for the history books, Grand Coulee is the largest electric producing structure in the United States which is quite a feat for building built in the 1930s to 1940s. Grand Coulee gave rise to Lake Roosevelt and provides power and irrigation to much of the American Northwest. Major social and environmental implications gave rise and made the Grand Coulee Dam a topic of great debate to this day. The immense structure blocks spawning for salmon, and the reservoir forced many people off the land including a high percentage of Native Americans. With a new power facility installed in the 1970s, the Grand Coulee Dam provides almost seven thousand mega watts per year, making it the fifth largest dam in the world.
These are only a few of the mega dams found around the world, and many more are being built to supply the worlds growing need for renewable energy that dams provide. Many of these structures are being built in developing countries and areas like India and China where the need for electricity is very high.
Three Gorges Dam
This is the biggest hydroelectric generator in the world and is capable of putting out twenty two thousand and five hundred mega watts of power. The Three Gorges Dam was completed just this last July, although construction began six years ago in two thousand and six. The major power generator spans the great Yangtze River and is near the town of Sandouping. All in all, Three Gorges houses thirty two generators in all.
Itaipu Dam
The second largest dam in the world was created as a joint venture by Brazil and Paraguay to sate the two nations growing energy demands. The dam has a longer history than that of Three Gorges in that construction began in 1970 and has continued to within the last few years. An engineering feat of epic proportions, the entire Parana River (the seventh largest river in the world) was rerouted with fifty million tons of earth and rock being moved. The reservoir created by Itaipu Dam eventually drowned the once largest water fall in the world, The Guaira Falls. The generators produce fourteen thousand mega watts per year.
Grand Coulee Dam
A topic for the history books, Grand Coulee is the largest electric producing structure in the United States which is quite a feat for building built in the 1930s to 1940s. Grand Coulee gave rise to Lake Roosevelt and provides power and irrigation to much of the American Northwest. Major social and environmental implications gave rise and made the Grand Coulee Dam a topic of great debate to this day. The immense structure blocks spawning for salmon, and the reservoir forced many people off the land including a high percentage of Native Americans. With a new power facility installed in the 1970s, the Grand Coulee Dam provides almost seven thousand mega watts per year, making it the fifth largest dam in the world.
These are only a few of the mega dams found around the world, and many more are being built to supply the worlds growing need for renewable energy that dams provide. Many of these structures are being built in developing countries and areas like India and China where the need for electricity is very high.