Top 20 Largest Dams in The World - 1

1. Three Gorges Dam:

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW). Except for a ship lift, the dam project was completed and fully functional as of July 4, 2012, when the last of the main turbines in the underground plant began production. Each main turbine has a capacity of 700 MW. The dam body was completed in 2006. Coupling the dam's 32 main turbines with two smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW. As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. The Chinese government regards the project as a historic engineering, social and economic success, with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines, and a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions. More details

2. Itaipu Dam:

The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The dam is the largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual energy generation, generating 98.3 TWh in 2012 and 98.6 TWh in 2013. It is a binational undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the Paraná River on the border section between the two countries, 15 km (9.3 mi) north of the Friendship Bridge. The installed generation capacity of the plant is 14 GW, with 20 generating units providing 700 MW each with a hydraulic design head of 118 m. In 2008 the plant generated a record 94.68 TWh, supplying 90% of the electricity consumed by Paraguay and 19% of that consumed by Brazil. Of the twenty generator units currently installed, ten generate at 50 Hz for Paraguay and ten generate at 60 Hz for Brazil. Since the output capacity of the Paraguayan generators far exceeds the load in Paraguay, most of their production is exported directly to the Brazilian side. More details

3. Tucurui Dam:

The Tucuruí Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Tocantins River located on the Tucuruí County in the State of Pará, Brazil. The main purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and navigation. It is the first large-scale hydroelectric project in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. The installed capacity of the 25-unit plant is 8,370 MW. Phase I construction began in 1975 and ended in 1984 while Phase II began in 1998 and ended in late 2010s. More details

4. Guri Dam:



The Guri Dam is a concrete gravity and embankment dam in Bolívar State, Venezuela on the Caroni River. It is 7,426 meters long and 162 m high. Construction began in 1963; the first part concluded in 1978 and the second in 1986. The Hydroelectric Power station Guri was constructed in the Necuima Canyon, 100 kilometers waters above of the mouth of the Caroní River in the Orinoco. There are two machine rooms with ten generators each, producing a total of 87 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. As of 2009, the hydroelectric plant is the third-largest in the world, with 10,200 MW capacity. More details

5. Fort Peck Dam:

The Fort Peck Dam is the highest of six major dams along the Missouri River, located in northeast Montana in the United States. At 6,409 m in length and over 76 m in height, it is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the United States, and creates Fort Peck Lake, the fifth largest man-made lake in the U.S., more than 210 km long, 200 61 m deep. The dam and 216 km long lake exist for the purposes of hydroelectric power generation, flood control, and water quality management. More details

6. Tarbela Dam:

Tarbela Dam on the Indus River in Pakistan is the largest earth filled dam in the world and second largest by structural volume. It is located in Haripur District, Hazara Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) northwest of Islamabad. The dam is 485 feet (148 m) high above the riverbed. The dam forms the Tarbela Reservoir, with a surface area of approximately 250-square-kilometre (97 sq mi). The dam was completed in 1974 and was designed to store water from the Indus River for irrigation, flood control, and the generation of hydroelectric power. More details

7. Atatürk Dam:



The Atatürk Dam originally the Karababa Dam, is a zoned rock-fill dam in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Built both to generate electricity and to irrigate the plains in the region, it was renamed in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of the Turkish Republic. The construction began in 1983 and was completed in 1990. The dam and the hydroelectric power plant, which went into service after the upfilling of the reservoir was completed in 1992, are operated by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). The reservoir created behind the dam, called Lake Atatürk Dam is the third largest in Turkey. More details 

8. Grand Coulee Dam:

Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power plants. A third power station was completed in 1974 to increase its energy production. It is the largest electric power-producing facility in the United States. More details

9. Oahe Dam:

The Oahe Dam is a large dam along the Missouri River, just north of Pierre, South Dakota in the United States. It creates Lake Oahe, the fourth largest artificial reservoir  in the United States, which stretches 231 miles (372 km) up the course of the Missouri to Bismarck, North Dakota. The dam’s powerplant provides electricity for much of the north-central United States. It is named for the Oahe Indian Mission established among the Lakota Sioux in 1874. The project provides flood control, electric power, irrigation, and navigation benefits, estimated by the Corps of Engineers at $150,000,000 per year. More details

10. Mangla Dam:

Mangla Dam was constructed from 1961 to 1967 across the Jhelum River, about 67 miles (108 km) south-east of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad in Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The main structures of the dam include 4 embankment dams, 2 spillways, 5 power-cum-irrigation tunnels and a 1,000 MW power station. The power station of Mangla dam consists of 10 units each having capacity of 100 MW. More details



Continued ... Top 20 Largest Dams in The World - 2