Itaipu Binational Dam celebrates the 49th treaty anniversary

We celebrate today the 49th anniversary of the signing of the Itaipu Treaty, which allowed the construction of what would become the largest generator of clean, sustainable energy on the planet: the Itaipu Binational Dam, on the border between Brazil and Paraguay.

The document is composed of 25 articles and 3 Annexes and was signed in Brasília by then presidents Emílio Garrastazu Médici (Brazil) and Alfredo Stroessner (Paraguay) and approved by the congresses of both countries as the main document for the binational company.

Completed in 1984, Itaipu hydroelectric dam is a binational endeavor run by Brazil and Paraguay with an installed generation capacity of 14 GW, with 20 generating units providing 700 MW each with a hydraulic design head of 118 metres (387 ft).

Although its peak generating capacity is 14k MW, less than the Three Gorges Dam’s 22,5k MW, the dam held the record for energy production for decades, and reached a total of 101.6TWh produced in 2016. This record was only beaten in 2020, when Three Gorges Dam produced 111.8TWh.