The Marimbondo Dam is an embankment dam on the Grande River near Fronteira in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The dam serves an associated hydroelectric power plant with a 1440 MW installed capacity.

Background

Owned and maintained by Eletrobrás Furnas, the dam was their fourth power plant constructed. Construction began in 1971 and was complete in 1975 when the first generator went online. The last of the eight generators went online in January 1977.

Specifications

The Marimbondo Dam is a 3100 m long and 94 m high earth-fill embankment dam with a concrete spillway and power house section. The total structural volume of materials for the dam is 14400000 m3. The dam's spillway contains nine floodgates that are 15 m wide and 18.85 m high each. In total, the spillway has a 21400 m3/s discharge capacity.

Reservoir

The reservoir created by the dam has a surface area of 438 km2 and capacity of 6150 e6m3 with 5260 e6m3 serving as live (active or "useful") storage. The normal reservoir level is 446.3 m above sea level and the maximum is 447.36 m.

Marimbondo Hydroelectric Power Plant

Marimbondo Hydroelectric Power Plant is 25.3 m wide and 250.2 m long and contains eight 180 MW generators that are powered by Francis turbines.