Exactly at midnight and 12 minutes this Sunday (10), the Itaipu power plant – a global leader in clean and renewable energy – reached the milestone of 3 billion megawatt-hours (MWh) generated since the beginning of its operation in May 1984. This entire amount of energy would be enough to light up the world for 43 days. On the morning of this Monday (11), around 7 am, the produced volume had already reached 3,000,228,145 MWh.
“This is not only historic but also incomparable,” celebrates the Brazilian general director of Itaipu, Enio Verri. He credits the achievement to all the employees throughout the company. “I want to congratulate each employee and outsourced worker, men and women, who contributed in their own way to reach this fantastic number, which is not only individual but collective; it is not from a single board, from just one management, but from two countries.”
For the executive technical director, Renato Sacramento, the 3 billion MWh consolidates Itaipu as a global power leader. “This is only possible thanks to the joint work of Brazilians and Paraguayans, men and women with high qualifications and great dedication, who are the force that drives this binational entity”.
Comparisons
The 3 billion MWh accumulated since the beginning of Itaipu’s production would be enough to supply the entire world for 43 days: Brazil for 5 years and 11 months; Paraguay for 221.5 years; the state of São Paulo for 21 years and 9 months; 662 cities the size of Curitiba for a whole year; or, also for one year, more than 5 thousand cities the size of Foz do Iguaçu.
Chronology
Itaipu started generating energy on May 5, 1984. It took 17 years to reach the first billion MWh, a milestone achieved in June 2001, during a severe energy rationing crisis in Brazil. Eleven years and 2 months later, the binational reached 2 billion MWh; and, after another 11 years and 7 months, it now reaches 3 billion MWh produced.
