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Montegrande Dam, an enterprise of the National Institute of Water Resources (INDRHI), which is being built on the River Yaque del Sur, in the province of Barahona – Dominican Republic, is another new challenge for Intertechne Consultores. Hired by Construtora Andrade Gutierrez, Intertechne is responsible for the Optimized Basic Design and also for the Executive Design of all the structures that make up the multiple development of Montegrande, which includes a dam, spillway, bottom discharger, valve house and emergency spillway.

Montegrande was designed with the objective of preventing floods, promoting ecotourism and guaranteeing water supply in a region that, in addition to being one of the poorest in the Dominican Republic, also has strong agricultural potential. In addition, the design is expected to generate electric power in the future (installed capacity of 18MW). Its dam is 2165 m in length and 55 m in maximum height, with a damming capacity of 389 million cubic meters of water. Construction began in February 2018 and the delivery review is for April 2021. According to Mônica Carvalho, manager responsible for Montegrande, this project is very challenging, considering the characteristics of the region.

“The main challenge is certainly the design of the asphalt core dam with a plinth supported by a diaphragm wall. Today, in the world, there are only two dams with characteristics similar to this one. In addition, the geological condition of the Montegrande dam foundation, composed of sandy alluvium, soft rocks and located in a region of high seismicity, makes the project a unique challenge”.

The dam also has an emergency system in case unexpected floods occur. “Another interesting structure that is being designed in Montegrande is an emergency spillway, like a fuse dike, which breaks with the occurrence of exceptional floods, exceeding the capacity of the planned discharge devices (bottom discharger and spillway)”, points out Mônica.

”Being able to participate in the implementation of this dam solution, previously unheard of for Intertechne, and to monitor its behavior during and after filling the reservoir, is undoubtedly a great privilege for our team. Without a doubt, this project will enrich our know-how in highly complex projects in the Water and Energy segment”, concludes Mônica.