Dage diga yacyretá – Wikipedia.

The Yacyretá-APIPé hydroelectric dam , also called only Say Di Yacyretá , it is a hydroelectric power plant built near the Yacyretá-APIPé waterfalls, on the Paraná river, between the Argentine provinces of Corrierientes and Misiones and the Paraguayan departments of Itapúa and Misiones.

The dam has a length of 808 m and the system has 20 turbines which overall generate a power of 3,200 MW, for an annual production capacity of 19,080 GWh. ^[first] However, being the water basin seven meters below the planned level, the system annually produces 11,750 GWh. ^[first]

The Yacyretá dam is located on the Paraná river, between the Paraguayan village of Ayolas and the Argentine one of Ituzingó, 83 km from Posadas. The system takes its name from Yaciretá island , now submerged to 80% from the artificial basin, whose name in Guaraní means “land of the moon”. ^[2] another island originally present in the river, that of Apipe , is today a natural reserve under Argentine administration. ^[3]

The construction of the dam was established on 13 December 1973 by a common agreement between Paraguay and Argentina; ^[4] However, the contrary thrusts of the Argentine lobby of nuclear energy and the politically unstable situation of Argentina herself brought down the first works to 1983. ^[5]

The latest disputes between the two countries, concerning the portion of the territory that should have been flooded to create a water basin of 1,600 km², resolved, the works took further impulse in the late eighties. The plant began to work in 1994. ^[first]

Accusations of corruption [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The total cost of the system has been calculated in over 10 billion dollars, ^[5] Five times more than in charge. ^[5]

Eby Company officials (Entidad Binacional Yacyretá), owner of the plant, were also accused of malversation and speculation; Among the most frequent accusations made to the men of Eby there is also that of having bought the lands whose various projects required flooding in order to obtain a strong compensation during the expropriation phase. ^[6] Former Argentine president Carlos Menem called the Yaciretá dam a “corruption monument”, ^[7] definition that later had a fair journalistic success. ^{[8] [9]}

In order to allow the navigation of the boats in the Paraná, it was created on the left margin of the complex, next to the Argentine bank, a closed; This concrete structure allows a group delimited with boats to overcome the difference in height of 23 m created by the barrier in a time of 45 minutes. The structure is made up of a basin of 270 m in length and 27 m width with power and unloading tunnels, closed by mobile patrols, capable of located at the level of the river or that of the artificial basin. Navigation is always allowed in the lock, after requesting sailors. ^[ten]

To encourage the passage of fish species, two lifts were built in the main arm of the river, supplied by two collection channels with entry gates in front of the dam; The two elevators, placed at the end of each channel, take 7 minutes to trace the water basin placed upstream of the barrier. ^[11] However, some studies consider the quantity of specimens observed on the elevators do not guarantee optimistic estimates on the survival of some migratory species (among these the Prochilodus Uneatus and the Salminus maxillosus ). ^[11]

The dam project has received numerous criticisms since its presentation: the flooding of 1,600 km², according to ecologists, has led to the destruction of the natural habitat of numerous endemic species. The destruction of the original natural environment and the chemical alteration of the water (especially of the quantity of oxygen present in them) have reduced the number of species in the area. ^[twelfth]

For years there has been a dispute concerning the marshes of Iberá, in the province of Cororientes: the ecological groups accuse the large water basin trained with the dam of being responsible for the periodic floods of the swamps. There Yacyreta binational entity He has always denied the existence of a correlation between the presence of the dismissal and the floods of Iberá. ^[13]

The project to raise the level of the Basin from 76 m to 83 m, in order to take advantage of the entire system at full capacity, is opposed by the ecological associations and the inhabitants of the area, which support no adequate studies on the social and economic impact have been carried out of this action; The raising of the level would cause the flood of 29,000 HA of land in Argentina and 93,000 ha in Paraguay. ^[twelfth] The Binational Assembly of Affected from Yaciretá , an association that collects the populations damaged by the construction of the dam, estimates that the creation of the artificial basin has already caused the eviction of 40,000 people, but that most of them have not been compensated because they are not considered damaged by the flooding of the land . ^[14]

The Yacyretá dam has turned into one of the major tourist attractions in the area, with visitors’ collection centers in the Argentine city of Ituzingó ^[15] and in Paraguayan cheat di ayolas. ^[16] The Yacyretá binational entity He takes care of external relationships directly, forming a guides person capable of bringing visitors to a series of educational paths along the structures of the complex. ^[15]