The Almendra Dam, also known as Villarino Dam, in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, interrupts the course of the River Tormes five kilometres from the village from which it takes its name: Almendra (literally,

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

). It was constructed between 1963 and 1970. The

arch dam An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengtheni ...

forms part of the

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

system known as the ''Saltos del Duero'' (in English "the Duero Drops"), along with the Castro, Ricobayo, Saucelle and Villalcampo dams of Spain, and the Bemposta, Miranda and

Picote Dam Picote Dam () is a concrete arch dam on the Douro, located in the municipality Miranda do Douro, in Bragança District, Portugal. Construction of the dam began in 1953, and was completed in 1958. It is owned by ''Companhia Portuguesa de Produçã ...

s of nearby

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

that backs up behind the dam covers 86.5 square kilometres and contains 2.5 billion cubic metres of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

as well as several drowned villages, among them Argusinos. The dam is more than half a kilometre wide and, at a height of 202 metres, one of Spain's tallest structures. The dam supplies the Villarino Power Station with water via a tunnel for

power generation. It is located underground about west of the dam. Water discharged from the power station enters the

Douro River The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

. The power station has an installed capacity of 810 MW and was completed in 1977.

Gallery

Presa1.JPG Carretera de la presa de Almendra.jpg Barragem de Almendra (vista de avião).jpg

References

Estado del Embalse de Almendra
(State of the Almendra Reservoir) .

(State of the reservoirs in the Duero Basin) .
Evolución de las presas en España, ''El caso de "Los Saltos del Duero"''
(Evolution of the dams of Spain: the case of "the Duero Drops") .
Sociedad Española de Presas y Embalses
(Spanish Society of Dams and Reservoirs) .

External links

* {{GeoGroupTemplate Buildings and structures in the Province of Salamanca Dams in Spain Hydroelectric power stations in Spain Dams completed in 1970 Energy infrastructure completed in 1977 Arch dams Underground power stations 1977 establishments in Spain 1970 establishments in Spain Buttress dams Energy in Castile and León

Gallery

See also

References

External links