Leningrad Elektrosila Association for the Building of Electrical

(full name, S. M. Kirov Leningrad Elektrosila Association for the Building of Electrical Machines), one of the largest establishments of the electrotechnical engineering industry in the USSR. It consists of two factories that manufacture electrical machinery, one apparatus factory, and an institute for scientific research. The association was established in 1962. It produces turbogenerators and hydraulic generators, electric motors, and various apparatus for such sectors as power engineering, metallurgy, shipbuilding, and the building of heavy machinery.

The association’s main factory was established in 1898 (it was based on the Russian workshops for electrotechnical products of the Siemens and Halsk joint-stock company). Its workers were active in the revolutionary movement. In 1923 the factory received the name Elektrosila (Electric Power). The first domestically produced turbogenerators and hydraulic generators were constructed in 1924–26. Production of mercury-arc rectifiers, transformers, and various apparatus was also started. Hydraulic generators were built for the Volkhov, Dnieper, Rybinsk, and other state power plants, and turbogenerators for the Kashira, Novomoskovsk, and other state regional electric power plants. In 1934 the association was renamed in honor of S. M. Kirov. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 the works were partially evacuated to the interior of the USSR. The fascist German army subjected the factory to artillery bombardment and aerial bombing, but work there did not stop for a single day. Between 1946 and 1970 the power rating of a single turbogenerator unit was increased from 100 megawatts (MW) to 1,000 MW, and the rating of a hydraulic generator went from 70 MW to 500 MW. In 1973 the manufacture of turbogenerators with a power rating of 1,200 MW was started. Equipment produced by association’s factory is being exported to many foreign countries. From 1962 to 1972 the association’s output expanded by 37 percent. The association was awarded two Orders of Lenin (1939, 1948), the Order of the October Revolution (1971), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1945), and the Bulgarian Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1964).