Part of the James Bay Project in Quebec, Canada, the Robert-Bourassa Dam is one of the most powerful dams in the world and is situated atop the world's largest underground generating station. Construction on the dam began in , and it was officially opened in Today, it is a tourist attraction, with visitors coming to enjoy the surrounding nature and the Robert-Bourassa reservoir.
The Hoover Dam in Nevada, U. The site is both a popular tourist attraction and a marvel of 20th Century engineering. The dam has a capacity of 2, megawatts. Its yield has been decreasing over the years, however, because of falling water levels in Lake Mead as a result of prolonged drought, and the growing demand for water taken from the Colorado river. Though the Kariba Dam is one of Africa's most powerful dams, in recent years it has become the subject of much controversy and difficulties.
The dam, which is located between Zimbabwe and Zambia, is the largest man-made dam at feet meters tall and 1, feet meters long. It has a capacity of 1, megawatts but is currently in the process of being expanded to yield a greater amount of energy.
Sadly, the structural integrity of the dam has been called into question, and major restoration works have been in progress since Sudan's Merowe Dam is the largest contemporary hydroelectric plant in Africa and is located on the Nile's 4th cataract. The dam has a capacity of 1, megawatts. Plans for building a dam on the 4th cataract date back to the mids, but it wasn't until when Merowe Dam was officially inaugurated. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam may still be under construction, but the ambitious project is set to become Africa's largest hydroelectric plant.
Upon completion, the estimated capacity will be 6, megawatts. This estimated power yield would also place the dam as the 7th largest in the world, once completed. Though construction is nearing completion, the reservoir itself will take an additional years to fill. Between the years and , the Bratsk Dam in Bratsk, Russia, was the world's largest single electricity provider.
Today, it continues to be one of the most powerful dams in the world, with a capacity of 4, megawatts. The dam remains a relic of Soviet engineering, and its reservoir was the largest artificial lake at the time of its inauguration. Formerly known as Manic-5, the Daniel-Johnson Dam in Quebec, Canada, is notable for its arched buttresses, and for its massive reservoir.
Its reservoir is so large, that it is apparently visible from space. The dam has a capacity of 1, megawatts and has been a tourist attraction since the s. Plans for building a dam in Aswan, Egypt along the Nile first surfaced in the early 20th Century. Despite this, it wasn't until the s that ground was first broken on the project.
The Aswan High Dam now has a capacity of 2, megawatts, and in addition to its energy yield provides a number of benefits to the surrounding area. They have a watertight upstream side supported by triangular shaped walls, called buttresses. The buttresses are spaced at intervals on the downstream side.
They resist the force of the reservoir water trying to push the dam over. The buttress dam was developed from the idea of the gravity dam , except that it uses a lot less material due to the clear spaces between the buttresses.
Like gravity dams, they are suited to both narrow and wide valleys, and they must be constructed on sound rock. Since , 14 buttress dams have been constructed in the UK, mainly for hydroelectric schemes in Scotland. Embankment dams are made mainly from natural materials. The two main types are earthfill dams and rockfill dams. Earthfill dams are made up mostly from compacted earth, while rockfill dams are made up mainly from dumped and compacted rockfill.
The materials are usually excavated or quarried from nearby sites, preferably within the reservoir basin. A cross-section or slice through an embankment dam shows that it is shaped like a bank, or hill. Most embankment dams have a central section, called the core , made from an impermeable material to stop water passing through the dam.
Clayey soils, concrete or asphaltic concrete can be used for the core. Rockfill dams are permeable. They can have a core or an impermeable cover on the upstream face. Like the other dams, the Itaipu has caused biodiversity loss, mass erosion and wildlife destruction and displacement of thousands of families.
However, the dam produces as much energy as burning , barrels of oil per day. Image: Wikimedia: Gugganij. Nine provinces and two cities consume energy from the dam. The Three Gorges Dam, completed in , is the poster child of harmful ecological impact for dams. Deforestation, land erosion, plummeting fish stocks, biodiversity loss and other impacts have occurred.
While the dam is able to limit harmful flooding for downstream farmers, it has been blamed for exacerbating droughts and leading to damage from too much silt. If it were up to me, all coal plants would be shuddered, inefficient vehicles would be taken off roads, energy companies would be forced to do all they could to optimize every home and building, economies would be restructured to drastically cut energy use, solar panel creation and installation would receive major subsidies, no new drilling licenses would be given to oil and gas companies, existing licenses would be drastically curbed and whatever else needed to be done to halt climate change and promote sustainable development would be done.
Going forward, countries have to be more careful when they implement alternative sources of energy. Share your thoughts with me on Facebook or Twitter! Sign up Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Apple or.
Rerequest with Facebook. This account has been deactivated. Wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, nuclear--almost sounds like Captain Planet. Hydroelectric power is probably the most disruptive alternative energy source available.
Image: Flickr: Guri Wasserkraftwerk Similar to Brazil, Venezuela has made renewable energy the centerpiece of its energy grid. Image: Flickr: Siemens The dam offsets about m tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, but , people were displaced to make way for construction.
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