The São Simão Dam is an embankment dam

Embankment dam

An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

 on the Paranaíba River

Paranaíba River

The Paranaíba River is a Brazilian river whose source lies in the state of Minas Gerais in the Mata da Corda mountains, municipality of Rio Paranaíba, at an altitude of 1,148 meters; on the other face of this mountain chain are the sources of the Abaeté river, tributary of the São Francisco River...

 near São Simão

São Simão, Goiás

São Simão is a small town and a municipality in south-central Goiás state, Brazil.-Location:São Simão is strategically situated on the border of Goiás with Minas Gerais, which makes it a major river navigation link between central Brazil, the Prata river system and the South Atlantic...

 in Goiás

Goiás

Goiás is a state of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. The name Goiás comes from the name of an indigenous community...

/Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. It was constructed for hydroelectric power production and flood control

Flood control

In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...

. The dam was completed in 1978 and all generators were operational by 1979. In 1977, the first use of roller compacted concrete in Brazilian dam construction occurred on the São Simão.

Specifications

The dam is a 3600 m (11,811 ft) long and 127 m (416.7 ft) high embankment dam with concrete spillway

Spillway

A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that was dammed. In the UK they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways release floods so that the water does not overtop and damage or even destroy...

 and power plant sections. The dam's reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 has a surface area of 703 square kilometre and a capacity of 12.5 km³ (3 cu mi) of which 5.54 km³ (1.3 cu mi) is live (active or "useful"). The dam's power station contains six 285 MW generators

Electrical generator

In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...

 powered by Francis turbine

Francis turbine

The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts....

s for a total installed capacity of 1,710 MW. There is additional room for four more generators in the power stations but there are no plans to have them installed currently.