Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant
- By year: 2018
- By location: Northern Vietnam
- By category: Hydropower plants
The Hòa Bình Dam on the Black River (Vietnamese: sông Đà) is the largest hydroelectric dam in Vietnam, and the 2nd largest in South East Asia (next to San Roque dam in the Philippines). Power is generated by utilizing eight turbines with a capacity of 240 MW, totalling the installed capacity to 1,920 MW. The Sông Đà Reservoir (Black River Reservoir) was formed as the river was dammed.
The dam is located on the Black River in Hòa Bình of the Hòa Bình Province, in Vietnam. It measures 128 m (420 ft) in height, and 970 m (3,182 ft) in length. The facility is owned by Vietnam Electricity, and produces up to 8,160 GWh of power annually. Construction on the rockfill dam began in November 1979 and was completed in 1994.Financed and built with the Russian money and experts it now produces approximately 27% of Vietnam's electricity and is currently staffed by 800 workers. 11,141 households, approximately 89,720 people, were relocated with 13 thousand ha of land being submerged. During construction there were 168 deaths, eleven Russian experts and 157 Vietnamese. On the neighboring Tuong Hill an 18m high, 400 ton statue of Ho Chi Minh stands looking over the dam. The story goes that when Ho Chi Minh crossed the Red River here in a boat during the nation's struggle for independence against America he was so frustrated with the difficulty that he proclaimed that when North and South are reunified a dam will be built to calm the mighty river.
