Belo Monte

The Belo Monte hydropower project is located on the Xingu River in the Brazilian state of Para, in the Amazon rainforest. It generates enough power to meet 10% of Brazil's total energy consumption and the energy demands of 60 million people, with an installed capacity of 11.23GW. The installed capacity accounts for around 7% of the country's overall power production capacity.

With the activation of the 18th generating unit in November 2019, the facility has reached full operational capacity. The primary powerhouse contains 18 units of 611.11MW, while the supplementary powerhouse has six 38.85MW generating units. The power station was built with three million cubic meters of concrete and more than 160,000 tons of steel and is operated by the Norte Energia consortium under a 35-year concession term. Because the Itaipu plant is shared with Paraguay, Belo Monte is considered the country's largest 100%-owned hydro facility.

Location: Pará, Brazil

Construction began: 2011

Opening date: 2016

Electricity generation capacity: 11.23GW