Repository: UIHistories Project: SWE - Proceedings of the First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists [PAGE 297]

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types of covers for the sample, a smaller triaxial machine was built for specimens 20 cm. in diameter and 50 cm. high to be tested under confining pressures up to 50 kg/cm2. An effort has been made at El Infiernillo to observe the performance of the dam by installing several types of measuring devices. Information yielded by these instruments is very enlightening thus far, particularly on the rockfill section of the dam. Data obtained as of May 1963 are still not complete enough to deserve detailed comments. POWER TO BE INSTALLED The system to which the Infiernillo plant will be interconnected when completed will have a total installed power capacity of 1,390,200 KW in 1964 of which 886,000 KW are generated by hydroelectric plants while the remaining 504,200 KM come from the thermoelectric power plants. The average yearly generation estimated for these systems will be 3,600 GWH. The storage water capacity in the reservoirs of Ixtapantongo and Necaxa reaches 1,250 million cubic meters. Taking into account these data and having studied the future growth of the central zone of the country where a 50-cycle frequency is available, the CFE decided to build the hydroelectric plant of El Infiernillo with a great reservoir and to install a capacity of 500 MW or more. The plant was finally designed for a power capacity of 625 MW divided among four 156 MW units for a generation of 2,771 GWH. On designing the Infiernillo power plant it has been considered that by regulating the flow of Balsas River through the use of reservoirs to be built upstream from the Infiernillo plant, two more units may be installed in the future. The project was made taking into consideration that investment should be the minimum possible. But installations should be such that operation of the plant will not stop if the future enlargement of the power house is advisable. The Balsas River valley has a drainage area of 108,000 Km2. This river may be considered as the most important American river on the Pacific Coast. It is limited by the Neo-Volcanic range, the Western Sierra Madre and the Southern Sierra Madre. It starts at great altitudes in the counterforts of the Nevado de Toluca and Popocatepetl extinct volcanoes and discharges into the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of the limits between the Mexican States of Michoacan and Guerrero. The great differences in level along the course of both of its tributaries and the main riverbed, as well as the yearly average volume of 14,000 million cubic meters flowing through its mouth, show that the Balsas River has a hydroelectric potential evaluated at 2,000 million KW. The Infiernillo power plant is being built some 60 km. from the mouth of the Balsas River and will have a total reservoir capacity of 9,210 million cubic meters. The average flow at the Infiernillo dam site may be estimated at 454 m3/sec. Future operation of the reservoir provides for utilization of 79% of the pool if the four 156 MW units A-10