Top 10 biggest water dams in the world | water

Top 10 biggest water dams in the world

1/ Kariba Dam, Zimbabwe

Kariba Dam, Zimbabwe

The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi River Basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam is 128 meters high and 579 meters long. The dam forms Lake Kariba, which spans 280 kilometers and holds 185 cubic kilometers of water.

The dam was built by order of the government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, a “federal colony” within the British Empire. The double curvature concrete arch dam was designed by Coyne and Bellier and built between 1955 and 1959 by Impresit of Italy at a cost of $135,000,000 for the first stage with only the Kariba South power cavern. The final construction and addition of the Kariba North Power cavern by Mitchell Construction was not completed until 1977 due to largely political issues at a total cost of $480,000,000. During construction, 86 men lost their lives.

The dam was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on May 17, 1960.
The Kariba Dam supplies 1,626 megawatts of electricity to parts of Zambia (the copperbelt) and Zimbabwe and generates 6,400 gigawatt hours per year. Each country has its own power plant respectively on the north and south banks of the dam. The Zimbabwe-owned southern station has been in operation since 1960 and had six generators with a capacity of 111 megawatts each for a total of 666 megawatts.

On November 11, 2013, Zimbabwe's finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, announced that the capacity of Zimbabwe's (southern) Kariba hydroelectric power station would be increased by 300 megawatts. The cost of upgrading the facility was funded by a $319 million loan from China. The deal is a clear example of Zimbabwe's "Look East" policy, which was adopted after a falling out with Western powers. Construction of the Kariba South expansion began in mid-2014 and was originally scheduled to be completed in 2019.

In March 2018, President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned the completed expansion of the Kariba South Hydropower Station. The addition of two new 150 megawatts turbines brings the capacity of this plant to 1,050 megawatts. The expansion work was carried out by Sinohydro, at a cost of US$533 million. Work began in 2014 and was completed in March 2018.

The Zambia-owned northern station has been in operation since 1976 and has four generators of 150 megawatts each for a total of 600 megawatts; work to increase this capacity by an additional 360 megawatts to 960 megawatts was completed in December 2013. Two additional 180 MW generators were added.

It was reported in February 2022 that rehabilitation works had been ongoing since 2017 on the Kariba Dam. The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) said work on the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP), which includes efforts to reconfigure the deep basin and reconstruct the spillway gates, is expected to be completed in 2025. The rehabilitation of the dam is funded by the European Union (EU), the World Bank, the Swedish government and the African Development Bank (AfDB), with the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe contributing counterpart funding. The objective of the project is to ensure the structural integrity of the Kariba Dam, ensuring the sustainable generation of electricity primarily to benefit the people of Zimbabwe and Zambia and the wider Southern African Development Community area. . The deep basin redesign work involves the bulk excavation of the rock in the current basin to help stabilize the deep basin and prevent further scour or erosion along the weak fault zone towards the dam foundation. This remodeling work will be carried out by the construction of a temporary waterproof cofferdam to complete the remodeling work in dry conditions.

2/ Bratsk Dam, Russia

Bratsk Dam, Russia

The Bratsk Dam in Siberia, Russia is the second largest dam in the world thanks to its reservoir of 169.27 billion cubic meters. The dam holds back the Angara River and the reservoir created by it covers an area of 5,540 km2.

The concrete gravity dam is owned by Irkutskenergo and was built from 1954 to 1964 by Bratkgesstroy (formerly Nizhneangargesstroy management).

The dam is 125 m high and 1,452 m long, and has a railway line and a highway at its top. The dam's power station has an installed capacity of 4,500 MW comprising 18 Francis turbines.k
The plant was designed by the Moscow-based Hydroproject institute, and is operated by the joint-stock company Irkutskenergo, although all the buildings themselves belong to Russia's federal government. A reconstruction project includes increasing the output towards 5,000 MW. At present, Irkutskenergo together with JSC Silovii Mashini is modernizing the aging turbines.

The Turbine Hall contains 18 Francis hydroturbine units, ca. 250 MW each, with 106 m of operating head. A 5,140 m-long penstock forms the Bratsk Reservoir. With a 4,500 MW capacity, and 22.6 TWh of annual output, it is Russia's second largest single producer of hydroelectricity. Output is distributed into five 500 kV power lines and twenty 220 kV lines.

3/ Akosombo Dam, Ghana

Akosombo Dam, Ghana

The Akosombo Dam, also known as the Volta Dam, is a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo Gorge and is part of the Volta River Authority. The construction of the dam flooded part of the Volta basin and led to the subsequent creation of Lake Volta. Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world by area. It covers 8,502 square kilometers, or 3.6% of Ghana's land area. With a volume of 148 cubic kilometers, Lake Volta is the third largest man-made lake in the world by volume; the largest being Lake Kariba which contains 185 cubic kilometers of water.

The main purpose of the Akosombo Dam was to supply electricity to the aluminum industry. The Akosombo Dam has been called "the biggest single investment in Ghana's economic development plans". The dam is important for providing the majority of Togo's and Benin's electricity, although the construction of the Adjarala Dam (on the Mono River in Togo) hopes to reduce these countries' reliance on imported electricity. The dam's original electrical output was 912 megawatts, which was increased to 1,020 megawatts as part of a renovation project completed in 2006.

4/ Daniel Johnson Dam, Canada

Daniel Johnson Dam, Canada

The Daniel-Johnson Dam, formerly known as Manic-5, is a multi-arch buttress dam on the Manicouagan River that creates the Manicouagan Annular Reservoir. The dam is made up of 14 buttresses and 13 arches and is located 214 km north of Baie-Comeau in Quebec, Canada. The dam was built between 1959 and 1970 for the purpose of generating hydroelectric power and supplies water to the Manic-5 and Manic-5-PA power stations with a combined capacity of 2,660 MW. The dam is 214 m high, 1,314 m long and contains 2,200,000 m3 of concrete, making it the largest dam of its type in the world.

The dam is named after Daniel Johnson Sr., the 20th premier of Quebec, responsible for initiating the project while he was a minister in the Duplessis government. Johnson died on September 26, 1968, the day he was to preside over the planned dedication of the dam. The facility is owned and operated by Hydro-Québec.

The design was chosen for strength and economy because it used less concrete or material than a gravity dam or an embankment dam. The Daniel-Johnson Dam is a multi-arch buttress dam 214 m high and 1,312 m long. Of the 14 buttresses of the dam, the two that form the central arch are 160 m apart at their base while the others are about 76 m apart. At its thickest point, the center, the dam is 22.5 m wide while the crest can be around 3 m wide. The water pressure behind the dam is transferred from the vaults of the dam to its buttresses and finally into the ground or its foundation.

The dam was constructed with high quality concrete designed to withstand the constant thawing and freezing associated with its environment. To further help the structure cope with the climate, engineers placed one-inch steel rebars in the upstream and downstream faces of the dam. The concrete's compressive strength was initially 4,500 pounds. per square inch to achieve approximately 1,500 PSI into the structure. The upstream face of the dam was also paved with asphalt for protection against water. Despite the strength of the dam's concrete, two parallel inclined cracks were discovered on one of the arches shortly after construction.

The dam impounded the Manicougan River, which filled the fifth-largest confirmed impact crater on Earth, the Manicouagan Crater, creating the Manicouagan Reservoir. Coincidentally, the reservoir itself is also the fifth largest in the world. The reservoir has a maximum depth of 350 m, an average depth of 85 m and holds 142 km3 of water. While draining an area of ​​29,241 km, it has an area of ​​1,950 km2 and a coastline of 1,322 km.

The reservoir is a well-known area for fishing Atlantic salmon, lake trout and northern pike, although the large trees flooded during the impoundment did not decay due to a lack of oxygen, which can sometimes interfere with sports practice.

The priming of the reservoir also created a large artificial island in the center of the Manicouagan Reservoir by merging two crescent-shaped lakes: Lac Mouchalagane on the west side and Lac Manicouagan on the east side. Covering an area of ​​2,020 km2, René-Levasseur Island is considered the second largest island in the world located in a lake, in terms of area (the largest is Manitoulin Island, located in the Ontario portion adjacent to Lake Huron).

The island is named after René Levasseur, the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the Daniel-Johnson dam. Levasseur died at the age of 35, just days before the dam was inaugurated.

5/ Guri Dam, Venezuela

Guri Dam, Venezuela

Guri, the fifth largest dam in the world, has a storage capacity of 135 billion cubic meters and creates Lake Guri covering 4,000 km2. The gravity dam and concrete embankment is 1,300 m long and 16 m high and provides 70% of the country's electricity needs. It is operated by CVG Electrification del Caroni CA (Edelca).

The Simón Bolívar Hydroelectric Power Station, also Guri Dam, formerly known as the Raúl Leoni Hydroelectric Power Station, is a concrete gravity and embankment dam in Bolívar State, Venezuela, on the Caroni River, constructed from 1963 to 1969. It is 7,426 meters long and 162 m high. It retains the large reservoir of Guri (Embalse de Guri) with an area of ​​4,250 square kilometers.

The Guri reservoir which feeds the dam is one of the largest in the world. The hydroelectric plant was once the largest in the world by installed capacity, replacing the Grand Coulee hydroelectric plant, but was overtaken by Itaipu in Brazil and Paraguay.

6/ Aswan High Dam, Egypt

Aswan High Dam, Egypt

The Aswan High Dam, which holds back the Nile and creates Lake Nasser, is the sixth largest dam based on water storage capacity. The reservoir of the dam, Lake Nasser, has a water storage capacity of 132 billion cubic meters.

The rockfill dam was designed by the Hydroproject Institute of Russia in collaboration with various Egyptian engineers. It was built from 1960 to 1968 with an investment of around $1 billion. The dam's power station is equipped with 12 Francis turbines with a combined installed capacity of 2,100 MW.

The multipurpose dam serves the irrigation needs of Egypt and Sudan, controls floods, generates electricity and helps improve navigation on the Nile. It is 111 m high, 3,830 m long and has a base width of 980 m. Its unique weir has a water discharge capacity of 11,000 cubic meters per second.

The Aswan Dam, or more precisely since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the largest embankment dams in the world, which was built on the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its prominence has largely overshadowed the previous Aswan Low Dam. originally completed in 1902 downstream. Building on the success of the low dam, then at its maximum use, the construction of the high dam became a key government objective after the Egyptian revolution of 1952; with its ability to better control flooding, provide increased water storage for irrigation, and generate hydroelectricity, the dam was considered essential to Egypt's planned industrialization. Like the previous implementation, the High Dam had a significant effect on Egypt's economy and culture.

Prior to the construction of the High Dam, even with the old dam in place, the annual Nile flood in late summer had continued to pass largely unhindered into the valley from its East African catchment. 'East. These floods brought floods with natural nutrients and minerals that enriched the fertile soil along its floodplain and delta each year; this predictability had made the Nile Valley ideal for agriculture since ancient times. However, these natural floods varied, as high water years could destroy the entire crop, while low water years could create widespread drought and consequently famine. These two events had continued to occur periodically. As Egypt's population grew and technology increased, both the desire and the ability to completely control floods, and thus both protect and support farmland and its economically important cotton crop . With the greatly increased reservoir storage provided by the Upper Aswan Dam, flooding could be controlled and water could be stored for later release over several years.

The Aswan Dam was designed by the Moscow-based Hydroproject Institute.

7/ W.A.C Bennett Dam, Canada

W.A.C Bennett Dam, Canada

The WAC Bennett Dam, built on the Peace River in British Columbia, Canada, creates Lake Williston. The dam ranks seventh with a storage capacity of about 74 billion cubic meters and covers an area of 1,773 km2.

The earth embankment dam is operated by B.C Hydro and has a height of 183m and a crest length of 2,068m. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1967.

The dam's power station, known as G.M. Shrum Power Station, has an installed capacity of 2,790 MW and began generating electricity in 1968.

The W.A.C. Bennett is a large hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia, Canada. At 186 meters high, it is one of the tallest earth dams in the world. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1968. At the dam, the Finlay, Parsnip, and Peace rivers empty into Williston Lake, also known as Williston Reservoir. It is the third largest man-made lake in North America (after Smallwood Reservoir and Manicouagan Reservoir) as well as the largest freshwater body in British Columbia. Lake Williston stretches 250 kilometers from north to south and 150 kilometers from east to west.

The construction of the dam cost $750 million, making it the largest project of its kind in the province of British Columbia. The dam was named after Premier WAC Bennett because his vision played a major role in the initiation, development and completion of the project; the tank is named after a trusted colleague of the Prime Minister: Ray Williston. The Gordon M. Shrum Generating Station at the W.A.C. Bennett has the capacity to generate more than 13,000 GWh per year, supplying more than a third of British Columbia's electricity demand. At the time of its construction, the power plant was the largest of its kind in the world; it continues to be the largest power station in British Columbia and is the third largest hydroelectric development in Canada after Robert-Bourassa and Churchill Falls. In addition to the benefits of the clean energy generated, the construction of the dam and reservoir also provided economic opportunities for the Province of British Columbia, for the new provincial power company BC Hydro and for the large number of workers. These workers participated in the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the project. Considerable costs were involved in the government-funded project, clearing the area for the reservoir, called the trench, alone cost $5 million.

The construction of the dam and reservoir was not without controversy. Controversy has been caused by the significant adverse environmental effects the project has had on the immediate environment. In the process of creating Lake Williston, 350,000 acres of former forest land was flooded. This has led to the loss of plant and wildlife biodiversity as well as the jeopardization of mining and forestry rights.

A second controversy related to the fact that the land had been inhabited before its flooding, so the flooding caused the displacement of the forty or fifty inhabitants located in the Trench. Among them were members of the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation, then known as Ingenika. The displacement had negative social impacts on the inhabitants as the loss of the lands that previously supported them meant a loss of autonomy and led to isolation, alienation and "social disorganization". A BC Hydro consultant admitted in 1977 that "the isolation imposed by the reservoir was having a serious impact on Ingenika's society and culture".

8/ Krasnoyarsk Dam, Russia

Krasnoyarsk Dam, Russia

The Krasnoyarsk Dam is a 124-meter-high concrete gravity dam located on the Yenisei River about 30 kilometers upstream from Krasnoyarsk in Divnogorsk, Russia. It was built from 1956 to 1972 and provides around 6,000 MW of electricity, mainly used to power the KrAZ (Krasnoyarsky Aluminievyy Zavod, the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant). The electricity and aluminum factories are controlled by the RUSAL company.

From the opening of the 10th turbine in April 1971, the plant was the largest power plant in the world until the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State reached 6,181 MW in 1983. The Grand Coulee Dam Krasnoyarsk is considered a historical symbol of Krasnoyarsk, and it is depicted on the 10 ruble banknote.

As a result of the dam, the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir was created. This reservoir, informally known as the Krasnoyarsk Sea, has an area of ​​2,000 square kilometers and a volume of 73.3 cubic kilometers. It is 388 km long and 15 km wide at its widest part, has an average depth of 36.6 m and a depth of 105 m near the dam.

The Krasnoyarsk Dam significantly influences the local climate; normally the river would freeze during the extremely cold Siberian winter, but since the dam releases unfrozen water all year round, the river never freezes in the 200–300 kilometers of river immediately below the dam. In winter, the freezing air interacts with the warm river water to produce fog, which shrouds Krasnoyarsk and other areas downstream.

The dam is equipped with an inclined plane of the channel to allow the passage of ships. It is actually an electric rack railway. The track gauge is 9000mm, making it the widest gauge railway of any type in the world. At the time of its construction, this feat of modern engineering made it possible to physically move ships in just 90 minutes.

9/ Zeya Dam, Russia

Zeya Dam, Russia

The Zeya Dam, built on the Zeya River in Russia's Amur Oblast, north of the Chinese border, creates the Zeya Reservoir with a storage capacity of 68.42 billion cubic meters, which is the ninth largest dam based on reservoir capacity. The reservoir covers an area of ​​2,419 km2.

The concrete gravity dam has a total height of 112m, a crest length of 714.2m and was constructed using 2.067 million cubic meters of concrete.

The Zeya Dam is owned by RusHydro and was constructed by Zeyagesstroy and Bureyagesstroy from 1964 to 1975. The power station at the dam comprises six generating units with a combined installed capacity of 1,290 MW. The plant is equipped with the world's first adjustable-blade diagonal flow turbines.

The Zeya Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Zeya River near the town of Zeya in Amur Oblast, Russia, north of the Chinese border. On average, the Zeya hydroelectric plant produces 4.91 TWh of electricity per year. It is equipped with 6 hydro-turbines, 4 with a capacity of 225 MW and 2 with a capacity of 215 MW.

The Zeya reservoir is located in the upper course of the Zeya, under the southern foothills of the Toko-Stanovik, a sub-range of the Stanovoy, north of the junction of the Tukuringra range and the Dzhagdy range. The reservoir is maintained at a regulated depth of 93 meters. A narrow valley 40 kilometers long separates the water body of the dam from the vast surface of the reservoir. The Baikal-Amur railway line runs along the northern bank, where a 1,100-meter-long bridge has been built.

Settlements on the bank of the Zeya Dam include Beregovoy, Khvoyny, Gorny, Verknezeysk, Bomnak and Snezhnogorsk.

10/ Robert-Bourassa Dam, Canada

Robert-Bourassa Dam, Canada

The Robert-Bourassa generating station, formerly known as La Grande-2 (LG-2), is a hydroelectric generating station on the La Grande River that is part of Hydro-Québec's James Bay project in Canada. The plant can produce 5,616 MW and its 16 units were gradually commissioned between 1979 and 1981. Annual production is around 26,500 GWh.

Along with the adjacent 2,106 MW La Grande-2-A (LG-2-A) generating station, commissioned in 1991-1992, it uses the Robert-Bourassa reservoir reservoir and dam network to generate electricity. . Together, the two power stations represent more than 20% of Hydro-Québec's total installed capacity of 36,810 MW in 2009. It is the largest hydroelectric power station in Canada, ranks 12th on the list of the largest large hydroelectric power stations and is the largest underground power station in the world. Power plant.

The main dam is located 117.5 kilometers from the mouth of the river, in the transition zone between the plateau and the coastal plain, and has a maximum height of 162 meters. Twenty-nine dikes of different sizes close the reservoir. They are organized into three groups: the D1-D4 dikes are located north of the spillway, nicknamed the Giant's Staircase, the D5-D14 are located on the left bank of the river while a third group, nicknamed the Duncan dikes ( D17-D27), are located 30 kilometers to the south. The dam and dykes hold back a reservoir covering an area of ​​2,835 square kilometers with a working capacity of 19.365 billion m³.

The plant itself is located 137.2 meters underground, 6 kilometers downstream from the main dam. It accommodates 16 Francis turbines, divided into two groups of eight each.

In 1974, in what was one of the most extreme cases of workplace sabotage to date, workers at the La Grande-2 site used bulldozers to overturn electric generators, damage fuel tanks and set fire to buildings. The project was delayed for a year and the direct cost of damages estimated at C$2 million. The causes were unclear, but three factors were cited: inter-union rivalry, poor working conditions, and the perceived arrogance of the American executives of the contractor Bechtel Corporation.

Covering an area of ​​2,835 square kilometers - larger than Luxembourg - the vast Robert-Bourassa reservoir is fed by an upstream watershed of 32,480 square kilometers, plus diversions of the James Bay project, the Caniapiscau reservoir and the EOL diversion project (Eastmain-Opinaca-La Grande). About 19.365 cubic kilometers is active or usable storage for power generation, out of a total volume of 61.4 cubic kilometers. Due to its large size, it is inhabited by diverse aquatic flora and fauna.

On November 27, 1978, the diversion tunnels were closed and the water began to rise behind the dam. The huge reservoir took over a year to fill completely. The water initially rose very quickly: 43 meters the first week, including 15 meters on the first day only. The reservoir reached its minimum operational level of 167.6 meters on September 2, 1979 and reached its normal maximum level of 175.3 meters in December 1979.