Day 12

Foz do Iguacu

This was a really busy day. First we had a bio-energy visit at Fazenda Colombari. It is managed by the owner's son and produces three main things, including cattle and swine. They produce .4 megawatts per day, which is enough to provide power for the farm and it would be a waste to produce more than this. We were able to see the biodigester as well as the areas where the cattle and swine are kept. The biodigester from the outside looks like a large pit covered with a plastic tent. It is about 2.5 to 3 meters in depth with plastic on the top and bottom to prevent seepage. This started as an R&D project but then became a company. They sell projects to individuals so that they can produce their own power on their farms. They can produce about 1.5 megawatts per day. The smell was truly intense.

Next, we visited the Itaipu Dam! We were lucky enough to get the ‘technical tour’, which is much more informative and thorough than the typical tour. After watching a short video introducing some basic history and facts about Itaipu, we were able to see the interworkings of the dam. We stood outside of an enormous concrete entrance and felt the vibrations of a penstock, through which 700 cubic meters of water is flowing through every second. On the inside of the concrete structure, there are levels ranging from 29 to 225 which represents the number of meters above sea level. The most memorable moments were seeing part of one of the generators up close in one of the lower levels, and the control room that sat centered on the divide between Paraguay and Brazil. I can say I’ve been in two countries at once! We were also able to see the spillway, where excess water is released, and learned about the Bela Vista, the longest channel in the world created to preserve the fish species in the area. These were a couple of things I hadn’t learned about in my research of the Itaipu dam and Itaipu Binacional. The last item on the agenda today was our farewell dinner. We had dinner and an exciting show at a restaurant serving traditional Brazilian food and barbeque.