I thought it was a very ugly expansion pack, but after watching it, Yang Jing and his group were still a little unsatisfied.

The shots in the expansion pack are all the essence of Itep Hydropower Station. If you hadn't watched the expansion pack, Yang Jing wouldn't have known that the dam of the entire Itep Hydropower Station hub was 7,744 meters long, which was more than three times the length of the Three Gorges Dam.

Although the main dam of the Itep Hydropower Station is only 1064 meters, the height of this main dam reaches 196 meters, which is 11 meters higher than the height of the Three Gorges Dam. It is the highest big-head dam in the world!

No wonder before coming, Comrade Xiao Wang said that the dam of the Itap Hydropower Station is even more spectacular than the Three Gorges Dam.

Also, the construction of the Itep Dam has added eight lakeside leisure areas out of thin air to the upper reaches of the Parana River. Therefore, the Brazilian local government transported yellow sand to pave it and made it look like a beach, which is an additional benefit of the dam project.

In addition, this hydropower station with 20 700,000 kilowatt generator sets is shared by Brazil and Paraguay. Paraguay accounts for ten generator sets and Brazil accounts for ten generator sets. However, the electricity emitted by two of the generator sets can provide 75% of the electricity consumption of Paraguay. Therefore, the electricity emitted by the other eight generator sets belonging to Paraguay was sold to Brazilians.

In fact, there is something wrong with this matter.

The Parana River is the second largest river in South America and the fourth largest river in the world, and has extremely abundant hydraulic resources. If such abundant hydraulic resources are not used properly, it would be a waste of resources.

So the governments of Paraguay and Brazil sat together and started discussing. I said, buddy, if we don’t use such abundant water resources, God will not agree to it.

Yes, buddy, why don’t we develop this Ji’s hydraulic resources together!

So the two governments hit it off and decided to build the Itep Hydropower Station on the Parana River.

In 1984, the Itep Hydropower Station was ready to start. According to the agreement between the two countries, both sides will each pay 50% of the start-up capital, and the future power generation will be divided equally by the two countries.

This agreement is very good, but unfortunately, Paraguay is so poor. If you ask them to take out such a large amount of money, it would be like forcing the government of this country to hang themselves collectively!

So the Paraguay government found the Brazilian government and said, "Brother, look at the fact that we are having some difficulties now and can't afford so much money for the time being, but we can't delay the construction of the hydropower station, so buddy, you'd better lend us some money!

When the Brazilian government heard this, it said without hesitation, "No problem, buddy, we are good brothers, we just lend it to you!"

So Paraguay borrowed loans from Brazil. Therefore, not only the hydropower stations are the start-up funds, but also the funds for the construction and operation of the hydropower stations later came from Brazil's loans, totaling US$18 billion. According to the regulations of both parties, Paraguay must pay off the loan by 2023.

In other words, all the funds for the construction of Itep Hydropower Station come from Brazil. Therefore, Brazil naturally hopes to get some benefits in the final distribution of benefits. In fact, for Paraguay, which had a population of less than 6 million, it was impossible to use up 50% of the electricity. At that time, Paraguay actually used electricity every year was only 5% of Itep's total electricity generation, that is, the electricity emitted by a generator set. Both sides then stipulated that Paraguay would sell the remaining 45% of the electricity to Brazil at a cost price, and could only sell it to Brazilian power companies.

Although the price Brazil paid Paraguay was about forty-five US dollars per million watts per hour, Paraguay could only get about three US dollars, and the remaining forty-two dollars was used to repay the debts they had borrowed from Brazil.

This thing was good, but it was scary. Paraguay found that it was not cost-effective after a long time. Although the money was paid by Brazil, Paraguay still had a loan. This means that after 2023, Brazil will not only get back the cost, but also use energy at a very low price. At this time, many countries in South America wanted to buy Paraguay's excess electricity at market prices. However, due to the original regulations, Paraguay could not control the excess electricity resources freely, so Paraguay hoped to sell the excess electricity freely instead of only selling it to Brazil. In addition, Brazil should also increase the purchase price.

But in the eyes of Brazilians, Paraguayans do this purely because of wolf ambition!

As the saying goes, it is natural to pay back debts. Moreover, the income brought to Paraguay by the Itep Hydropower Station exceeds 4% of its GDP, and 80% of Paraguay's electricity consumption in the country comes from the hydropower station. Paraguay not only solves domestic energy problems through hydropower stations, but also has huge income, which is a typical "making money out of nothing".

But that's it. You Paraguayans are not satisfied yet, and they actually want to further expand the income of hydropower stations, increase the price of power supply, and use the money of Brazilians to make money from Brazilians. Of course, we Brazilians are not happy.

This is the reason for the dispute between the two sides.

However, this incident was finally calmed down with the joint efforts of former Paraguay President Lugo and former Brazilian President Lula.

On July 25, 2009, Lula, then President of Brazil, and Lugo, President of Paraguay, reached a new agreement in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, on the Itep Hydropower Station jointly owned by the two countries. According to the agreement, Brazil will significantly increase the price of purchasing electricity from Paraguay and gradually allow Paraguay to sell electricity to Brazil freely without interference from Brazilian power companies. At this point, the dispute over Itep Hydropower Station, which has long affected the relationship between the two countries, has temporarily come to an end.

Through this incident, one truth can be seen, that is, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests!

After watching the video, the group got on the sightseeing bus. According to Comrade Xiao Wang's reminder, Yang Jing and his group occupied the right side of the second floor of the bus. When they had just sat firmly and the bus had not started, a sound of thunder came from the distance.

Everyone looked in the direction where the sound came, but there was nothing but a rising mist.

Xiao Wang smiled and said, "We have a good time this time. This sound must be the flood discharge gate and the reservoir has begun to discharge. Don't worry, the flood discharge cannot be over in a short while. Let's take your time and wait until the flood discharge channel, you will see the spectacular view of the flood discharge."

The bus started quickly and began to drive towards the hydropower station. The straight-line distance from the dam is nearly four kilometers.

However, the bus did not drive directly to the dam, but stopped at a building complex in the middle. Xiao Wang explained: "This is the first stop to visit, because there is the Itep Ecological Museum here. In the museum, you can see all the introductions about the Itep Hydropower Station, and you can even see the miniature generator set. It is also good to go in and take a look."

Since we are here, let’s not say anything, just follow us. So the group took a long walk in the Ecological Museum, and combined with the expansion pack I saw before, Yang Jing and his friends had a deeper understanding of the Itap Hydropower Station.

After coming out of the museum, Gege pointed to the grassy area on the banks of the Parana River and shouted in surprise: "Look, what kind of animal is that? So cute..."

On that grass, animals more than ten or one meter long and more than half a meter high were eating lazily, while a few little guys, who were obviously cubs, followed their mothers and moved carefully.

These animals really look cute, cute and stupid, no wonder Princess is a little overjoyed.

Comrade Xiao Wang glanced at it and said, "Sister-in-law, that is the capybara unique to South America. However, this animal is the 'pig' raised by the locals in the water, and it is one of the main sources of meat for the locals."

"Oh, how could the locals be willing to eat such a cute little animal?" Princess was a little angry.

Xiao Wang smiled and explained: "Sister-in-law, there is no way. Capybara can be raised manually in South America, just like our domestic pig farming. The meat yield rate of this animal is pretty good and tastes good. It has long been an important source of meat for the locals, and we can't change this situation."

Not long after the car walked forward, he saw the towering dam, and the bus stopped again. Xiao Wang said: "This is the prescribed first stop taking photos. Here you can see the whole picture of the entire main dam."

When everyone got out of the car, they immediately saw a huge robot welded with steel pipes. The robot sprayed with white paint held a torch in his hand, as if he was walking forward.

After taking some photos here, the car went to the dam, but it was in the middle of the dam, and below the road was the generator set of the hydropower station...

I just saw that the dam was not very high from a distance, but when I really walked on the four-lane road in the upper part of the generator set, I could completely feel the majesty of the dam.

The originally huge double-decker sightseeing bus seemed like a little mouse facing an elephant in front of this dam. The most eye-catching thing on the dam is the twenty thick white water diversion pipes. The water from the reservoir enters the turbine through these water diversion pipes, and then pushes the turbine to rotate and starts to generate electricity.

These twenty white pipes are so thick that the double-decker bus more than ten meters long is not even half the thickness of a pipe!

Twenty thick pipes lined up in a row, and people stood in front of these pipes, as small as a little ant.

"Spectacular! It's really spectacular!" Although I couldn't get off the bus, even if I sat in the bus, I could feel the majestic momentum of the dam. Princess was completely suppressed.
Chapter completed!