Itá Hydroelectric Power Plant
The Itá Hydroelectric Power Plant is a dam and hydroelectric power plant on the Uruguay River near Itá on the border of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The power station has a capacity and is supplied with water by a concrete face rock-fill embankment dam. It is owned and operated by Tractebel Energia and produces the equivalent of 60% of the energy consumed in Santa Catarina. Background. Construction on Itá originally began in 1980 but was halted in 1987 because of financial conditions. In 1995, construction recommenced after a consortium was formed  and the dam was complete in 2000. Most of the 6,000 people that were in the town of Itá were relocated to a new area above the reservoir. The Fritz Plaumann State Park was created in 2003 as environmental compensation for the dam. Itá Dam. The Itá Dam is a long and high concrete face rock-fill embankment dam with a crest elevation of above sea level. The dam's reservoir has a capacity of , surface area of and catchment area of . The dam supports two spillways, one of its right abutment with six floodgates and another on the ridge  to the dam's west, just south of the power plant which has 4 floodgates. Each gate measures wide and tall and in total, both spillways have a maximum capacity of . Also on the ridge is the power plant's intake and three axillary dikes to support the reservoir level. The power plant intake is wide and contains five gates that allow water to enter the five penstocks that are in diameter and average in length. Power plant. The above ground power station is long and wide and contains five generators powered by Francis turbines. The first generator was commissioned  in July 2000 and four more later that year with the last generator being commissioned in March 2001.