Challenges in implementing the Santo Antônio hydro plant

The Santo Antônio project, part of the major Rio Madeira development, has presented the developers with a number of challenges, some on a scale not encountered before. While the scheme was designed to cause the minimum of disturbance to the regime of the Madeira river, and the surrounding environment, inevitably some changes were unavoidable. This article presents the challenges of dealing with the huge river, and mitigating environmental impacts. In particular the paper focuses on the innovative concepts adopted for the fish passage structure, for river diversion and for the management of floating wood. Details are also given of the present stage of the construction work.