Caniçada Dam

The Caniçada Dam (Portuguese: Barragem da Caniçada/HICA-Hidroeléctrica do Cávado-Caniçada; Portuguese pronunciation: [baj d knisað]) 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 (district of Braga). It is owned by Companhia Portuguesa de Produção de Electricidade (CPPE).

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 (Civil Engineering National Laboratory).

Caniçada Dam is a 76 metres (249 ft) tall (height above foundation) and 246 metres (807 ft) long arch dam with a crest altitude of 163 metres (535 ft). The volume of the dam is 90,000 cubic metres (3,200,000 ft3). The dam features a spillway with 4 gates over the dam with a maximum discharge 1,700 cubic metres per cubic foot (2,100,000 cu ft/m3) per second, and one bottom outlet with maximum discharge 142 cubic metres (5,000 ft3) per second.

At full reservoir level of 163 metres (535 ft) the reservoir of the dam has a surface area of 783 square kilometres (302 mi2) of 6.89 (5.78) km2 and a total capacity of 170.6 mio. m³; its active capacity is 159.3 (144,4) mio. m³. With the 144,4 mio. m³ water 32 GWh can be produced.

The hydroelectric power plant went operational in 1954. It is operated by EDP. The plant has a nameplate capacity of 62 (60 or 100) MW. Its average annual generation is 337.4 (283, 345 or 346) GWh. The power station contains 2 Francis turbine-generators with 31 MW (34 MVA) 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.

List of power stations in Portugal List of dams and reservoirs in Portugal

MOP, ed. (1962), Relatório da Actividade do Ministério no Ano de 1961 (in Portuguese), vol. 1, Lisbon, Portugal: Ministério das Obras Públicas "Sistema Nacional de Informação de Recursos Hidrícos" (in Portuguese). 12 March 2005. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2020.

Power station data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).