Guri Dam - History and Design

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. The walls in room number two were decorated by the Venezuelan kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Díez. 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.

Since 2000, there is an on-going refurbishment project to extend the operation of Guri Power Plant by 30 years. This project is to create 5 new runners and main components on Powerhouse II, and close to the end of 2007 is starting the rehabilitation of four units on Powerhouse I.