Cerrón Grande Dam

The Cerrón Grande Hydroelectric Dam (Spanish: Central Hidroeléctrica Cerrón Grande) spans the Lempa River 78 km north of San Salvador in the municipalities of Potonico, (Chalatenango) and Jutiapa (Cabañas) in El Salvador.

The concrete gravity dam has a height of 90 m and a length of 800 m. The dam's reservoir has a surface area of 135 km2 and a capacity of 2,180,000 m3.

The hydroelectric power plant was fitted with 2 x 67.5 MWe Francis turbines with a total capacity of 135 Mwe. Major maintenance work carried out between 2003 and 2007 included replacing the turbines with 2 x 85 MWe units with a total capacity of 170 MWe, which generate 488 GWh per year.

Cerrón Grande Reservoir
The Cerrón Grande Reservoir (Spanish: Embalse Cerrón Grande), locally known as Lake Suchitlán, is the largest body of fresh water in El Salvador. In 2005, the reservoir and approximately 470 km2 of adjacent area was listed as a "Wetland of International Importance" under the Ramsar Convention. The area provides a habitat for large numbers of waterbird, duck and fish species.

History
Because of the construction of the Cerron Grande Hydroelectric Dam, over 13,000 people were displaced with many cantons or townships, caserios or hamlets, churches, cemeteries, and over 20 significant archaeological sites being lost in the process including Canton El Tablon and Canton San Juan in Suchitoto, Cuscatlan.