Itaipu Binacional Dam, Panoramic Circuit and Bela Vista Biological Refuge Guide

Twelve kilometres north of downtown Foz do Iguaçu, where the mighty Paraná River forms the international border between Brazil and Paraguay, rises a monument of human engineering that rivals the natural scale of Iguaçu Falls: the Itaipu Binacional Hydroelectric Dam (Usina Hidrelétrica de Itaipu). Named one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1994, Itaipu has generated more cumulative clean hydroelectric power (over 3 billion megawatt-hours since 1984) than any power plant on earth.

The 1973 Treaty of Itaipu and Engineering Scale

Taking its name from a small island in the Paraná River whose Guarani name means "the sounding stone", the project began with the 1966 Ata do Iguaçu and the historic Treaty of Itaipu signed on 26 April 1973 between Brazil and Paraguay. Between 1975 and 1978, up to 40,000 workers excavated a 2-kilometre bypass channel through basalt rock to divert the Paraná River, pouring 12.7 million cubic metres of concrete (enough to build 210 Maracanã stadiums) before the first generator went online on 5 May 1984.

Combining a hollow-gravity concrete main dam, buttress wings, a rockfill dam, and an earthfill dam, the total crest stretches 7,919 metres (nearly 8 kilometres) long and rises 196 metres high (the height of a 65-storey skyscraper). Twenty giant white steel penstocks feed water at 690 cubic metres per second each into 20 Francis turbine-generator units (10 generating at 50 Hz for Paraguay and 10 at 60 Hz for Brazil, with an installed capacity of 14,000 MW), supplying roughly 85 percent of Paraguay's electricity and 8 to 10 percent of Brazil's.

Which Itaipu Visitor Tour Should You Choose?

• Itaipu Panorâmica (Panoramic Tour, ~1 hour 50 minutes): Board a double-decker open-sided electric bus at the Visitor Reception Centre for an audio-guided journey past the three-chute Spillway (Vertedouro) (capable of discharging 62,200 cubic metres per second, 40 times the average flow of Iguaçu Falls), stopping at the Central Observation Deck and driving across the 196-metre-high crest overlooking the 1,350-square-kilometre Itaipu Lake.
• Itaipu Especial (Interior Technical Tour, ~2.5 hours): Adds restricted access inside the cathedral-like hollow concrete chambers of the dam, the binational Central Control Room (where a yellow line marks the exact border between Brazil and Paraguay), and the spinning steel shaft of a working 700-megawatt turbine.
• Itaipu Iluminada (Night Illumination): On Friday and Saturday evenings, 747 floodlights illuminate the concrete dam wall in synchronization with a live orchestral soundtrack.

Refúgio Biológico Bela Vista (1984)

When the Itaipu reservoir filled in 1982, Itaipu established a network of protected reserves along the lake shore, led by the 1,780-hectare Refúgio Biológico Bela Vista (opened in 1984). Join the two-hour guided trail through reforested Atlantic Forest to see Itaipu's pioneering breeding programmes for jaguars (onça-pintada), harpy eagles, South American tapirs, giant river otters, and red brocket deer; book all Itaipu tours online via the official Turismo Itaipu portal.