Monday, June 4

Today we visited Itaipu, the hydroelectric plant that holds the records for the most power generated in a year, although it comes second to Three Gorges in China for installed capacity. The whole project is a partnership between the governments of Brazil and Paraguay, so the region around the dam is technically a no-man's land. We went to a scenic overlook, where we could see the spillway of the dam, then to another one where we could see the main generating area and turbines.

Pretty damn cool 

An empty spillway

We then drove to the top of the dam, where we could see the reservoir on one side and the 190 meter drop to the river surface on the other side. Then we got to go down and view the inside of the plant, where 20 'penstocks' funnel 700 cubic meters per second to giant turbines. We viewed the control room, where they monitor power demand from the grid, and the other one where they monitor plant operation. Then we got to go down into the depths and see the spinning rotor. We couldn't see the turbine, because it's in water, and we couldn't see the generator spinning, but we could see the giant rotor and watched it for a few minutes, before heading back out.

This is ground control to major Tom... 

Don't drop your keys

Spinny boi

We had a disappointing lunch on the reservoir, then in the afternoon visited a biogas plant and an electric vehicle facility located on the 'no-man's land' campus of the dam. I was geeking out about the biogas facility, which takes wastewater from the facilities, organic waste from restaurants, and grass clippings from landscaping crews. The plant has only been operational for about a year, and they are still working to optimize the process. They produce about 75 cubic meters of methane each day, which fuels a small fleet of clean gas vehicles. Eventually they will ramp up production greatly to use more waste and fuel more cars, but they are still experimenting with the digestion process.

After the methane plant, we went to an electric vehicle research facility. An employee explained the programs they were working on there, and then we got to check out some of the prototypes that they had. They had an electric airplane, an electric jeep, and many different types of electric buses. They also have an electric vehicle program at the dam, where employees can check out little electric cars to drive from one part of the campus to another. These cars are shared communally, reducing the number of vehicles necessary, and ensuring that anyone who needs a vehicle can get access to one.