GURI HYDROELECTRIC P

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The Guri Hydroelectric Project will finance the foreign exchange costs of the first stage of the Guri hydroelectric development on the Caroni River. The project has been planned by Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), a government development authority. It will consist of a dam, a power plant with a capacity of 350 MW, and 80 km of 230-kv transmission line to a substation at Matanzas which serves the Macagua hydroelectric plant. The project will comprise the following major elements: a) The main dam consisting of a concrete gravity type center section, in which initially two sets of intake gates and penstocks will be installed, with provision for the later installation of 8 additional intakes and penstocks; a concrete chute type spillway controlled by nine radical gates; and a rockfill embankment on the left abutment, connected to the center gravity section. b) A power station, immediately below the dam, in which will be installed two hydroelectric units of 175 MW each operating under a maximum gross head of 92 meters. c) An emergency fuse plug spillway and two flood control training dikes in a small valley a short distance from the main river valley. d) A switching station situated on the left bank of the river about 1,400 meters downstream of the main dam. e) A 230-kv double-circuit steel tower transmission line, about 80 km long, to connect the power plant with the Guayana substation.