The Engineer Sérgio Motta Dam, formerly known as the Porto Primavera Dam, is an embankment dam on the Paraná River near Rosana in São Paulo, Brazil. It was constructed between 1980 and 1999 for hydroelectric power production, flood control and navigation. An estimated 11 million tropical trees were submerged.

Technical

The dam is named for Sergio Roberto Vieira da Motta, a prominent industrial engineer in São Paulo. At 11.38 km in length, it is the longest dam in Brazil. The 22 m tall dam creates a reservoir with a 19.9 km3 capacity and surface area of 2250 km2. The dam supports hydroelectric power plant on its southern end with an installed capacity of 1540 MW. The power plant contains 14 x 110 MW Kaplan turbine generators. Although there are no plans to install them, the power plant has room to accommodate an additional four generators. The dam also supports a 210 m long and 17 m wide navigation lock on its southern end with the ability to transport 27 million tons a year.

History

Construction on the dam began in 1980 and the first filling of the reservoir to 253 m above sea level was complete by 1998. It was inaugurated in 1999 with the first three generators commissioned in March. In 2000, five more generators came online and by 2001, a total of ten were in operation. The second filling to 257 m above sea level was complete in March 2001 and by October 2003, all 14 generators were in operation. The dam flooded 13,227 ha of the Lagoa São Paulo Reserve and 3,211 ha of the Great Pontal Reserve. In compensation, the Companhia Energética de São Paulo (CESP) created the 73,345 ha Rio Ivinhema State Park, the 7720 ha Rio do Peixe State Park, the 9043 ha Aguapeí State Park and the 6262 ha Cisalpina Private Natural Heritage Reserve. In 2005, an infestation of Hydrilla verticillata was discovered in the reservoir, the first time the invasive weed was discovered in Brazil. The dam has also had negative effects on downstream fish reproduction and has a 520 m long fish ladder.

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