Salto Grande Dam, Hydroelectric power station at Uruguay River border of Concordia and Salto, Argentina Uruguay.
Salto Grande is a hydroelectric power station on the Uruguay River at the border between the Argentine city of Concordia and the Uruguayan city of Salto, stretching roughly three kilometers long. The facility includes fourteen Kaplan turbines set in a concrete base, along with spillways, control rooms and a service bridge that divides the river into two sections.
Work began in 1974 after years of negotiation between the two countries, and the first turbine went online in 1979. Completion of the entire complex came in 1983, with roughly forty-five hundred workers involved in the construction.
The facility is operated jointly by Argentina and Uruguay, with each country receiving electricity in proportion to its investment, covering roughly eleven percent of Argentina's consumption and thirty percent of Uruguay's. Near the turbine hall, a memorial honors the binational workforce that carried out the construction over several years.
The facility offers exhibition spaces with models and films about turbine operation and construction history, accessible through advance booking. A visitor center on the Argentine side displays panels and diagrams about electricity generation and the joint management.
The facility created an artificial lake that stretches roughly one hundred and forty kilometers upriver to Federación, reshaping the shoreline and surrounding landscape. Maintenance of the turbines requires specialized divers who regularly work underwater to inspect blades and mechanical parts.
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