3. Itaipu dam >>>>

Itaipu (Guarani: Itaipu, Portuguese: Itaipu, Spanish: Itaipú; pronounced [itaiˈpu]) is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay.

The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. In the Guarani language, Itaipu means "the sound of a stone". The American composer Philip Glass has also written a symphonic cantata named Itaipu in honour of the structure.

Itaipu Binacional is a company that runs the longest operational hydroelectric power plant in the world. It is second only to the Three Gorges Dam in generating capacity. It is a binational undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the Paraná River on the border section between the two countries, 15 km north of the Friendship Bridge. The project ranges from Foz do Iguaçu, in Brazil, and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, in the south to Guaíra and Salto del Guaíra in the north. The installed generation capacity of the plant is 14 GW, with 20 generating units of 700 MW each. In the year 2008, it achieved its generating record of 94.68 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), which supplied 90% of the energy consumed by Paraguay or 19% of that consumed by Brazil .

The concept behind Itaipu Power Plant is the result of heavy negotiations between the two countries during the 1960s. The "Ata do Iguaçu" (Iguaçu Act) was signed on July 22, 1966, by the Brazilian and Paraguayan Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Juracy Magalhães and Sapena Pastor, respectively. This was a joint declaration of the mutual interest in studying the exploitation of the hydric resources that the two countries shared in the section of the Paraná River starting from and including the Salto de Sete Quedas to the Iguaçu River's watershed. The Treaty that gave origin to the power plant was signed in 1973.