The Itaipu Dam is a modern marvel (it was named one of the Seven Wonders of the World by American Society of Civil Engineers in 1994--see photo below).
Posted on 11/11/2009 4:34:24 AM PST by Cindy
RIO DE JANEIRO — A massive power failure blacked out Brazil's two largest cities and other parts of Latin America's biggest nation for more than two hours late Tuesday, leaving millions of people in the dark after a huge hydroelectric dam suddenly went offline.
Paraguay was also affected when the Itaipu dam straddling the two nations' border stopped producing 17,000 megawatts of power, resulting in outages in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and at least several other big Brazilian cities, Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said.
The cause of the failure had not been determined, but Lobao said strong storms uprooted trees near the Itaipu dam just before it went offline and could be to blame. Rio was the hardest hit city, he said."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Maybe the Olympics in Rio will hark back to the original Olympics in Greece...how’s that great leader Chavez workin’ out for all those SA communist?
We have our own massive failure here in the US.
I notice you never hear about a blackout due to a gas or coal burning generator going down.
Then you haven’t been listening.
The problem with the U.S./Canada grid is the failure to build capacity to keep up with demand. We buy more and more electronic toys and import millions of energy using immigrants and try to hobble by on a grid built in the first half of the twentieth century. The luddites oppose any new generation plants or distribution lines and the politicians brow beat us with claptrap about the environment instead of getting out of the way.
I firmly believe that without government interference energy, health care and education would all cost about half of what they do right now.
Sugar Cane
Hydro systems are extremely simple...the water flows through the turbine, spins the blades on the generator...and voila, power.
There is something the authorities are not telling us about this outage. I would guess that someone took out some part of the distribution system attached to the dam...either by explosives or cyber-warfare.
Another round of cyber attacks?
Visions of US after cap and tax.
The Itaipu Dam is a modern marvel (it was named one of the Seven Wonders of the World by American Society of Civil Engineers in 1994--see photo below).
I agree with that, I was just contrasting green, politically correct power with dirty old reliable coal power. Unless we find new places to dam and flood, we will have to build more coal plants.
Unless we find new places to dam and flood, we will have to build more coal plants.
Forget the coal. Build more nukes.
Have you ever seen sluice gates in a forested area after heavy rains? They are clogged with trees and brush, keeping them clear is not trivial. Probably a lot worse in the Amazon. Half of all fresh water discharged into the oceans comes from the Amazon.
The politicians currently find it easier to sell a drastically reduced standard of living than cross the greenies.
That said, it is hard to imagine a failure of the removal process and/or equipment so great as to close an entire project the size of Itaipu.
I might have over-argued my point. Something just sounded fishy to me...
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