| Alcántara Dam | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location of Alcántara Dam in Spain | |
| Location | Alcántara, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain |
| Coordinates | 39°43′48″N 6°53′05″W / 39.73000°N 6.88472°W / 39.73000; -6.88472 |
| Status | Operational |
| Opening date | 1969 |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Buttress |
| Height | 130 m (427 ft) |
| Length | 570 m (1,870 ft) |
| Dam volume | 956,000 m (1,250,401 cu yd) |
| Spillways | 2 |
| Spillway capacity | 8,000 m/s (282,517 cu ft/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Total capacity | 3,160,000,000 m (2,561,854 acre⋅ft) |
| Catchment area | 51,916 km (20,045 sq mi) |
| Power Station | |
| Commission date | 1969-1970 |
| Turbines | 4 x 229 MW Francis-type |
| Installed capacity | 915 MW |
The Alcántara Dam, also known as the José María de Oriol Dam, is a buttress dam on the Tagus River near Alcántara in the province of Cáceres, Spain. It is named after the politician and captain of the Spanish electricity industry José María de Oriol y Urquijo. The dam regulates much of the flow of the Tagus River, the longest of the Iberian Peninsula. It was built in 1969 and is the second largest reservoir in Europe. In 2024, a pumped-storage project was approved to use the Alcántara reservoir as the upper reservoir, and Cedillo as the lower, with around 100 m height difference serving two reversible turbines at a combined 440 MW.
The Roman Alcántara Bridge is located 600 m downstream from the dam.
References
- "Jose Maria de Oriol (Alcantara II)" (in Spanish). Spanish Society of Reservoirs and Dams. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- "The hydroelectric Jose Maria de Oriol, one of the greatest in Spain" (in Spanish). Iberdrola. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- "Integrated Water Resources Management: STRIVER efforts to assess the current status and future possibilities in four river basins". Retrieved 2014-02-04.
- ""Bulletin" - Striver". Retrieved 2014-02-04.
- Heynes, George (27 September 2024). "Major pumped hydro energy storage project agreements in India, Spain". Energy-Storage.News.
External links
| Hydroelectric dams on the Tagus | |
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