Ituzaingó, Corrientes (90km west of Posadas)

Sunday PM 16 July 2006

One of the various brochures I collected from the tourist office for Corrientes Province was about a massive hydro-electric dam called Yacyreta (pronounced like 'Yasyreta'). Since I had exhausted the sights of Posadas during the morning I thought the dam might be worth a visit. Free guided visits are given of the site. Yacyreta is located near the settlement of Ituzaingó, which is on the Paraná River about 90km west of Posadas. Getting there is fairly straightforward as it is just off of the main road between the city of Corrientes and Posadas. There are long distance buses which stop there about every hour.

Ituzaingó reminded me of some of the Australian mining communities I have visited. I guess what I mean is that the place had a desolate feel to it. As you can see from the photo below, this part of town is very green. I found street after street of identical looking houses. Everything appeared quite uniform and tidy.

Yacyreta was a highly controversial project that goes all the way back to the early 1970's. I say "all the way back" because it is still not fully completed. It was a joint project between Argentina and Paraguay and suffered from serious corruption, delays and went well over budget. It also has had a significant environmental impact (as all dams do). I think that many of the people who lived where the lake formed by the dam is now, were relocated to Ituzaingó. The two countries carry a massive debt for this project, running into US$ billions. Nestor Kirchner, the Argintinean Prisdent is currently visiting Paraguay, and I know this issue is on his adgenda.

I guess it is no wonder that the company that runs the site is doing a big PR push, having the free guided tour. And, of course, they frequently stressed the positive environmental benefits of hydro-electric power as well as the special environment safe guards they have introduced to, for example, allow for fish migration. The tour started with a 15 minute video and then was followed by a 45 minute bus tour of the dam. From a pure engineering point of view it is hard not to be impressed by the scale of the of the project, the dam itself, and the hydro-electric plant. We were told that the plant could generate enough electricity to satisfy more than 25% of Argentina's power demands. This seems like a heck of a lot to me! Whether this is currently possible, I am not sure. But for an electrical engineer, it was all fascinating none the less.

The photo above shows the outside of the generating hall, and below is inside the building. There are 20 generators with a total capcity of around 2700MW