Technology






High Dam - New Aswan Dam

This dam was built between 1960 and 1972, by Russian Engineers. The High Dam is located a few miles south of the Old Aswan Dam. This solid concrete gravity dam is 364 feet in height and 11,808 feet in length. The characteristics of a solid concrete gravity dam are:

  • Very durable
  • Requires little maintenance
  • Requires very little steel reinforcement
  • Called gravity dams because they depend on gravity to keep them in place
  • Designed so that the sheer weight of the solid concrete is strong enough to keep the dam from sliding or being overturned by the pressure of the water

In addition to water supply and flood control, the third purpose was hydropower. The High Aswan Dam is one of the world's largest electric power stations. In 1967 the first of its 12 hydroelectric turbines went into operation, with each turbine having a capacity of 175 MW. The power station was ready to operate at full capacity in 1970. Below is a model of the system description of the High Aswan Dam.

Between elevations 147 and 178 meters, on HAD there is a storage capacity of 106 billion cubic meters and has a capacity of 270 MW.



Old Aswan Dam



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