In October 2018, the Itaipú power plant, located in the border region between Brazil and Paraguay, opened all the floodgates and since then up to 1,400 m³ of water per second have been flowing down into the Rio Paraná.

The joint project between Paraguay and Brazil was completed between 1974 and 1991. The plant was extended in 2004 to include two more turbines from Voith. The 20 turbines in total deliver an output of around 14,000 MW. With the amount of water available averaging 10,500 m³/s, Itaipú power plant delivers a standard capacity of 95 TWh per year. This makes the mega-power plant on the Rio Paraná one of the most powerful hydropower plants in the world. In contrast to previous situations, there is no longer any risk of flooding for the neighbouring district of San Rafael in Ciudad del Este.