Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant

the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant (1972). Located on the Enisei river above Krasnoiarsk, where the Enisei intersects the spurs of the Vostochnyi Saian near Divnogorsk. Rated power, 6,000 megawatts (MW), or 6 million kilowatts (kW); average long-term electric power production, 20.4 billion kW-hr per year.

The hydroengineering system of the Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant includes a riverbed concrete dam (124 m high), the powerhouse (430 m long), a ship elevator, and outdoor busand-switch structures for 220 and 500 kV. The length of the pressure face of the hydraulic system is 1,175 m, the maximum head is 101 m, and the rate of flow through the dam is 12,000 m³/sec. The dam creates the Krasnoiarsk Reservoir. In the power-plant part of the dam there are 24 water intakes, and in the spillway part there are seven overflow spillways 25 m wide. In the powerhouse there are 12 hydroelectric power units with radial-axial turbines, with a power of 508 MW each. The electromechanical equipment of the power plant is regulated and monitored automatically, using short-range remote-control facilities. The ship elevator, which is of the longitudinal-inclined type with a rotating mechanism, is located on the left bank. Ships are shifted from one level to the other in a self-propelled ship-carrying chamber.

The hydroelectric power units were put into service in November 1967, and in 1971 the power plant achieved its rated power, with the start-up of the last of the 12 units. In July 1972 it was accepted for industrial service by a state commission.

The Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant is one of the most economical hydroelectric power plants in the USSR. It is the most important control point of the Unified Power System of Siberia. The location of the plant virtually at the center of the unified system means that its electric power can be used at any part of the very large territory served by the system.

In April 1973, six participants in the construction of the Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant were awarded a special Lenin Prize in science and technology.