The Emborcação Dam, also known as Theodomiro Sampaio, is an embankment dam

Embankment dam

An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

 on the Paranaíba River

Paranaíba River

The Paranaíba River is a Brazilian river whose source lies in the state of Minas Gerais in the Mata da Corda mountains, municipality of Rio Paranaíba, at an altitude of 1,148 meters; on the other face of this mountain chain are the sources of the Abaeté river, tributary of the São Francisco River...

 near Araguari

Araguari

Araguari is a city and municipality in northwestern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It is located in the northern Triângulo Mineiro region, on the Jordão River, a tributary of the Paranaíba River, at an elevation between 940 and 1,087 meters....

 in Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. It was constructed for hydroelectric power production and flood control

Flood control

In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...

.

Background

Feasibility studies for the dam occurred in 1971 and in June 1977, construction on the dam began. In August 1981, the dam began to impound the reservoir and the first generator became operation in 1982, the last in 1983. The dam was inaugurated in 1983 by Brazilian president Joao Batista Figueiredo.

Specifications

The dam is 1507 m (4,944.2 ft) long and 158 m (518.4 ft) tall and withholds a reservoir with a capacity of 17.6 km³ (4.2 cu mi) and surface area of 703 square kilometre. The dam's power plant contains four 298 MW generators

Electrical generator

In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...

 powered by Francis turbine

Francis turbine

The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts....

s for a total installed capacity of 1,192 MW.