ISMES, a CESI company, monitors some of the biggest hydroelectric plants in the world

As CESI delivers practical solutions that help to interpret and shape a world that is becoming more and more interconnected and complex, our Group has been assigned a very ambitious optimization project in South America. We are, in fact, working on a monitoring system for one of the biggest hydro-electric plants in the world.

In 2021, South America saw the fastest hydropower growth rate after the East Asia and Pacific region and net electricity generated by hydropower plants in Brazil reached 372,064.9 GWh in 2021, representing the biggest source of renewable energy in the Country. In Latin America, Paraguay is also at the forefront of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix, as Paraguay’s electricity generation is produced by 100% renewable energy sources with a power production capacity close to 60,000 GWh per year.

With an installed generation capacity of 14 GW, 20,700MW generating units and a hydraulic design head of 118 meters, the Itaipu dam located between the two countries, is one of the biggest hydroelectric dams in the world.

In this respect, ISMES, a CESI company, was selected to improve safety and optimize maintenance planning. CESI designed and installed a monitoring system with more than 300 sensors and 24 data acquisition systems, including a communication system, CESI’s proprietary INDACO control and data processing system and a Mistral expert system to provide hourly information on the status of the dam.