Together with the Brazilian government, he oversaw the building of the Itaipu dam on the Parana River.

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Energy Minister Edson Lobao said the bad weather cut the transmission lines in Sao Paulo state, leading the huge Itaipu dam to shut down automatically.

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The two countries share the Itaipu hydroelectric dam (still the world's largest until China's Three Gorges is completed).

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Last month it similarly agreed to pay Paraguay more for electricity from Itaipu, the hydroelectric dam they share.

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Brazil is Paraguay's biggest trading partner, and its purchase of electricity from Itaipu, the vast hydroelectric dam the two countries share, represents Paraguay's second-biggest export.

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Work on one new dam at Xiluodu on the upper Yangtze, which will rival Itaipu's power capacity, resumed last year after being halted for a few months for an environmental assessment.

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