Limón Dam 1.49

The Limón Dam, part of the Olmos Transandino Project, is an under construction multi-purpose concrete-face rock-fill embankment dam on the Huancabamba River in northwestern Peru, located to the south of Guabal. When completed, the project will help produce of electricity per year and transfer water from the Cajamarca region west to Lambayeque, near Olmos for the reclamation and irrigation of of farmland. The greatest feature and engineering challenge of the project was digging the 20km trans-Andean tunnel as it connects the Atlantic side of the Andes (Amazon basin) with the Pacific side.The Olmos Irrigation Project is the largest of seven irrigation projects in Peru.History and constructionThe idea to divert the Huancabamba River to the fertile lands of Olmos was first envisioned in 1924. The hydroelectric component was added in the 1940s and 1950s. Preliminary feasibility studies were conducted in the 1960s by Italconsult, in 1979-1982 soviet engineers from Hydroproject prepared and approved new design Tunnel excavation had been occurring since the 1950s and through the 1970s but work was halted in the 1980s due to a lack of funding. Construction on the project began in 2006 with the dam and Brazil's Odebrecht drilling the tunnel with a tunnel boring machine (TBM). Of the tunnel's total length, is being dug with a TBM. The dam was completed in 2009 and its reservoir began to impound the river. The tunnel was completed on 20 December 2011 with a ceremony attended by Peru's President Ollanta Humala. In June 2010, H2Olmos S.A. was awarded the contract for the irrigation system and it is expected to be operational in 2013. The contract for the hydroelectric component, which is planned to consist of two power stations, was awarded to Sindicato Energético S.A. in June 2010.