The Rhône is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Arles, near its mouth, the river divides into the Great Rhône and the Little Rhône. The resulting delta forms the Camargue region.
The Grande Dixence Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Dixence at the head of the Val d'Hérémence in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. At 285 m (935 ft) high, it is the tallest gravity dam in the world, seventh tallest dam overall, and the tallest dam in Europe. It is part of the Cleuson-Dixence Complex. With the primary purpose of hydroelectric power generation, the dam fuels four power stations, totaling the installed capacity to 2,069 MW, generating approximately 2,000 GWh annually, enough to power 400,000 Swiss households.
Longtan Dam is a large roller-compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam on the Hongshui River in Tian'e County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, a tributary of the Xi River and the Pearl River. The dam is 216.2 metres (709.3 ft) high and 849 m (2,785 ft) long; it is the tallest of its type in the world. The dam is intended for hydroelectric power production, flood control and navigation. The dam contains seven surface spillways, two bottom outlets and an underground power station. The Longtan ship lift, part of the dam complex, will be the tallest ship lift system in the world.
Hartwell Dam is a concrete and embankment dam located on the Savannah River at the border of South Carolina and Georgia, creating Lake Hartwell. The dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1955 and 1962 for the purposes of flood control, hydropower and navigation. The concrete and earthen structure spans 15,840 feet (4,828 m). The concrete section is 1,900 feet (579 m) long and rises 204 feet (62 m) above the riverbed at its apex. The Hartwell Dam currently produces 468 million KWh of electricity annually, has prevented over $40 million in flood damage since completion and also provides recreation, water quality, water supply, along with fish and wildlife management.
Lake Qaraoun is an artificial lake or reservoir located in the southern region of the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. It was created near Qaraoun village in 1959 by building a 61 m-high (200 ft) concrete-faced rockfill dam in the middle reaches of the Litani River. The reservoir has been used for hydropower generation, domestic water supply, and for irrigation of 27,500 ha.
The Tokuyama Dam is an embankment dam near Ibigawa, Ibi District, Gifu Prefecture in Japan. The dam was completed in 2008 and will support a 153 MW hydroelectric power station that is expected to be fully operational in 2015. Currently, Unit 1 at 23 MW was commissioned in May 2014. The dam was originally intended to withhold the upper reservoir of a 400 MW pumped-storage power station until a design change in 2004. The dam is also intended for flood control and water supply. It is the largest dam by structural volume in Japan and withholds the country's largest reservoir by volume as well.
The Giétro Glacier or Giétroz Glacier is a 4 km long valley glacier located in south-western Switzerland. The 1818 Giétro Glacier catastrophe, which led to a lake outburst flood, is one of the most famous and most disastrous historical cases in the Swiss Alps.
The Darbandikhan Dam is a multi-purpose embankment dam on the Diyala River in northern Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq. It was constructed between 1956 and 1961. The purpose of the dam is irrigation, flood control, hydroelectric power production and recreation. Due to poor construction and neglect, the dam and its 249 MW power station have undergone several repairs over the years. A rehabilitation of the power station began in 2007 and was completed in 2013.
Deriner Dam is a concrete double-curved arch dam on the Çoruh River 5 km (3.1 mi) east of Artvin in Artvin Province, Turkey. The main purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and additionally flood control. Construction on the dam began in 1998, the reservoir began to fill in February 2012 and the power station was completed by February 2013. It will have a 670 MW power house and is the tallest dam in Turkey. The dam is being implemented by Turkey's State Hydraulic Works and constructed by a consortium of Turkish, Russian and Swiss companies.
The Siah Bisheh Pumped Storage Power Plant, also spelled Siyāhbisheh and Siah Bishe, is located in the Alborz Mountain range near the village of Siah Bisheh and 48 km (30 mi) south of Chalus in Mazandaran Province, Iran. The power plant uses the pumped-storage hydroelectric method to generate electricity during periods of high energy demand, making it a peaking power plant, intended to fulfill peak electricity demand in Tehran 60 km (37 mi) to the south. When complete it will have an installed generating capacity of 1,040 megawatts (1,390,000 hp) and a pumping capacity of 940 megawatts (1,260,000 hp). Planning for the project began in the 1970s and construction began in 1985. It was delayed from 1992 until 2001 and the first generator went online in May 2013. The remaining generators were commissioned by 1 September 2015. The power plant is the first pumped-storage type in Iran and will also use the country's first concrete-face rock-fill dam – two of them.
The Kannagawa Hydropower Plant (神流川発電所) is an under construction pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant near Minamiaiki in Nagano Prefecture and Ueno in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The power plant utilizes the Minamiaiki River along with an upper and lower reservoir created by two dams, the upper Minamiaiki Dam and the lower Ueno Dam. The power station in between the two dams will contain six 470 megawatts (630,000 hp) pump-generators for a total installed capacity of 2,820 megawatts (3,780,000 hp). Unit 1 commenced commercial operation in 2005 and Unit 2 in 2012. When completed, the plant will have the second-largest pumped-storage power capacity in the world.
Techi Dam is a concrete thin arch dam on the Dajia River in Heping District, Taichung, Taiwan. Forming the 454 ha (1,120-acre) Techi Reservoir (德基水庫), the dam is built in the Tachien Gorge in Heping District, providing hydroelectric power, irrigation water, and some flood control, and is operated by the Taiwan Power Company. At 180 m (590 ft), it is the highest dam in Taiwan and one of the tallest dams in the world. The dam was completed in 1974 after five years of construction.
Lake Cachi is an artificial lake in central Costa Rica created by the Cachí Dam, an arch dam north of Tapantí National Park, to the east-southeast of Cartago in Cartago Province. The main town is Cachí, away from the east bank of the lake. Built in the 1970s, it was one of the first hydroelectric projects in Costa Rica. It has an installed capacity of 102 MW with three units of 34 MW capacity each.
The Ramganga Dam, also known as the Kalagarh Dam, is an embankment dam on the Ramganga River 3 km (2 mi) upstream of Kalagarh in Pauri Garhwal district, Uttarakhand, India. It is located within the Jim Corbett National Park.
The Grand'Maison Dam is an embankment dam on L'Eau d'Olle, a tributary of the Romanche River. It is located in Vaujany of Isère within the French Alps. The primary purpose of the dam is to serve as the upper reservoir for a pumped-storage hydroelectric scheme where Lac du Verney located lower in the valley is the lower reservoir. The dam was constructed between 1978 and 1985 with its power station being commissioned in 1987. With an installed capacity of 1,800 MW, it is the largest hydroelectric power station in France.
Denis-Perron dam is a rockfill embankment dam spanning the Sainte-Marguerite River, a tributary of the lower Saint Lawrence River, in eastern Quebec, Canada. Standing 171 metres (561 ft) high and 378 metres (1,240 ft) long, the dam is the primary component of Hydro-Québec's Sainte-Marguerite 3 hydroelectric project. The dam is the second highest in Quebec and the hydraulic head afforded to its power plant is also the largest in the province.
Huites Dam, officially known as Luis Donaldo Colosio Dam, is located on the Rio Fuerte in northwestern Sinaloa, Mexico 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Los Mochis. The 162-metre (531 ft)-high, hybrid concrete arch-gravity dam impounds a reservoir called Lago Huites or Presa Luís Donaldo Colosio and is owned by the Comisión Federal de Electricidad.
The Vilyuy Dam is a large dam and hydroelectric power station on the Vilyuy River in Chernyshevsky, Mirninsky District, Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. The dam was built between 1964 and 1967 to provide power for diamond mines in the area. It is located in the southern part of the Vilyuy Plateau and was one of the first of such major structures in the world to be built on permafrost. Vilyuy is reported to have the coldest operating conditions of any hydroelectric plant in the world.
The Drance is a river in Valais, Switzerland with a length of 14.5 kilometers (9.0 mi) to the confluence with the Rhône, a maximum length of 43 kilometers (27 mi). It has a drainage basin of 676 square kilometers (261 sq mi). The river is formed from the confluence of the Dranse d'Entremont and the Dranse de Bagnes at the village of Sembrancher. Further upriver the Dranse d'Entremont splits into the Dranse d'Entremont and the Dranse de Ferret.
The Toulnustouc generating station, is a hydroelectric power generating station managed by Hydro-Québec on the Toulnustouc River in the territory of Côte-Nord, Quebec, Canada. It has an installed capacity of 526 MW. The power station is fed by water from a dam and dyke that contain the Lake-Sainte-Anne reservoir.
