Improved flooded area/power ratio

The River Madeira has a flow of 4,000 m³ per second during the dry period and 45,000 m³ per second in the rainy period. For this reason, the kind of turbine for the operation is the bulb type which is more suitable to the conditions of this river, with large volumes and water speed and reduces the need for large reservoirs. The flooded areas will be practically the same size as those which occur during the annual flooding of the river.

The Santo Antônio HEP has the best ratio between the flooded area and the installed capacity of all the hydroelectric plants in the Amazon plain region. The plant´s reservoir will measure 271 km². When the area of the natural flood is dammed, the area of the reservoir comes to 110 km².