Itaipú to start new units Sep, Oct.

The Itaipú hydro plant on the border of Brazil and Paraguay will start operations of its 19th turbine (9-A) on September 1, 2005 and its 20th turbine (18-A) on October 1, the plant's Brazilian director Jorge Samek said in a statement Tuesday. The new units are 700MW each, the same size as the 18 units already in operations. The 12,600MW plant is the world's largest hydro plant, and in 2004 produced 89.9 million MWh, its third largest annual total ever, and 0.8% more than in 2003.