Cheboksary Hydroelectric Power Plant

a power plant of the Volga Hydroelectric System, located near the city of Novocheboksarsk, Chuvash ASSR. The rated power of 1,400 megawatts (MW) is supplied by 18 hydroelectric units with adjustable-blade turbines, each developing 78 MW. The average annual power output is 3.31 billion kilowatt-hours, and the maximum head is 18.9 m. Construction was begun in 1968; the first unit went into operation in 1981.

The hydroengineering complex includes an integrated power house 548 m long; a concrete spillway dam of lightweight design with a spillway face 120 m long; earthen channel and floodplain dams with a total length of 3,355 m; and a single-chamber, double-lane lock with an outer staging area of 1.1 sq km in the upper pond and with a lower approach channel. The face of the support structures is 4,480 m long. The hydroengineering complex forms a reservoir with an area of 2,182 sq km, lying in the Chuvash ASSR, the Mari ASSR, and Gorky Oblast. Power from the plant will be transmitted to the Integrated Electric Power Grid of the USSR over 220-kilovolt and 500-kilovolt lines.