The third largest hydroelectric dam in the world is Itiapu on the border of Paraguay and Brazil. Each country gets half of the power, but since Paraguay uses a fraction of the power that Brazil does, they sell a big chunk of their share back to Brazil, but there’s a complication. Paraguay’s electric system runs on 50hz and the half of the generators at the dam that belong to Paraguay generate at that frequency. Brazil runs on 60hz and their generators generate at that frequency. So how do you get the part that Paraguay generates at 50hz to Brazil in a usable way.
That’s where Furnas Ibiúna substation comes in. At the dam, the part going to Brazil is converted to DC and sent down a couple of 800KM transmission lines which brings the power to this location. Once there, the power is converted back to AC, but at the 60hz frequency necessary for Brazilian use, and provided to the country’s grid.
You’ll note that this is a rare reveal without a picture. There wasn’t any that were particularly interesting or revealing.
Those who located this site before the hint:
- Martin de Bock
- Eloy Cano
- Garfield
- Phil Ower
- Paul Voestermans
- Angie CF
- hhgygy
- Lighthouse
and after the hint:
- Graham Hedley
- Bas van Limpt