Caniçada Dam

The Caniçada Dam is a concrete arch dam on the Cávado River, the civil parish of Parada do Bouro, in the municipality of Vieira do Minho, in the Portuguese Norte. It is owned by Companhia Portuguesa de Produção de Electricidade.

History

The dam was completed and began functioning in 1955.
In 196, approval was obtained to begin a program of observation of the dam, as proposed by the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil.

Architecture

Caniçada Dam is a tall and long arch dam with a crest altitude of. The volume of the dam is. The dam features a spillway with 4 gates over the dam with a maximum discharge per second, and one bottom outlet with maximum discharge per second.

Reservoir

At full reservoir level of the reservoir of the dam has a surface area of of 6.89 km² and a total capacity of 170.6 mio. m³; its active capacity is 159.3 mio. m³. With the 144,4 mio. m³ water 32 GWh can be produced.

Power plant

The hydroelectric power plant went operational in 1954. It is operated by EDP. The plant has a nameplate capacity of 62 MW. Its average annual generation is 337.4 GWh. The power station contains 2 Francis turbine-generators with 31 MW each in an underground powerhouse 134 m below the surface. The turbine rotation is 300 rpm. The minimum hydraulic head is 77 m, the maximum 121 m. Maximum flow per turbine is 34 m³/s. The turbines and generators were provided by Voith.