Chalillo Dam
dam in Cayo
The Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam on the Macal River about 33 km (21 mi) south of San Ignacio in Cayo District, Belize. Chalillo Dam's maximum capacity is 7.0 MW. The dam was constructed by Sinohydro of Beijing, China, between 2002 and 2005 with the primary purpose of hydroelectric power production. The project budget was approximately US 30 million. Its construction generated controversy over its effect on the surrounding rain forest.
Two smaller dams, the Mollejon and Vaca, are downstream from the Chalillo Dam. The Mollejon has a capacity of 25.2 MW and the Vaca has a capacity of 19 MW. The three dams together meet approximately 40% of Belize's energy needs. All three dams are operated by Fortis Belize (formerly Belize Electric Company Limited).
Location
Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam is situated in the westernmost part of the country where the Macal River converges with the Raspaculo River. It is located in the Maya Mountains and shares adjacency with the Chiquibul National Park and the Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Positioning Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam approximately 16 kilometers from the Guatemalan border.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chalillo Dam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.