Guri Dam

The Guri Dam is a concrete gravity and embankment dam in Bolivar State, Venezuela on the Caroni River. Its official name is Central Hidroelectrica Simon Bolivar (previously named Central Hidroelectrica Raul Leoni from 1978 to 2000). It is 7,426 meters long and 162 m high.

History and Design:
The Hydroelectric Power station Guri was constructed in the Necuima Canyon, 100 kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Caroní River in the Orinoco. There are two machine rooms with ten generators each, capable of producing a total of 87 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.[citation needed] The walls in room number two were decorated by the Venezuelan kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Díez.[citation needed] The first stage of development of Guri began in 1963 and was finished in 1978 with a capacity of 2,065 megawatts in 10 units and with the dam to a maximum level of 215 meters above sea level. The second stage of the dam concluded in 1986 and allows the water level to reach 272 m above sea level, and constructed the second power plant that houses 10 units of 630 MW each. As of 2009, the hydroelectric plant is the third-largest in the World, with 10,200 MW capacity. It was once the largest worldwide by installed capacity, replacing Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP and surpassed by Itaipu HPP. The dam is eighth-largest in the world by volume of water.

• Type of dam: Gravity/embankment
• Height: 162 m (531 ft)
• Length: 7,426 m (24,364 ft)
• Volume: Concrete: 6,026,000 m³ (212,806,182 cu ft) Earth: 23,801,000 m³ (840,524,383 cu ft)
• Impounds: Caroni River
• Type of spillway: Service, controlled crest overflow
• Spillway capacity: 27,000 m³/s (953,496 cu ft/s)