Rybinsk Hydroelectric Station or Rybinsk GES (russian: Ры́бинская ГЭС) is a hydroelectric station on the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...

and the

Sheksna The Sheksna (russian: Шексна́) is a river in Belozersky, Kirillovsky, Sheksninsky, and Cherepovetsky Districts of Vologda Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga. It is long, and the area of its basin .

rivers in

Yaroslavl Oblast Yaroslavl Oblast (russian: Яросла́вская о́бласть, ''Yaroslavskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostr ...

near the

Rybinsk Rybinsk ( rus, Рыбинск, p=ˈrɨbʲɪnsk), the second largest city of Yaroslavl Oblast in Russia, lies at the confluence of the Volga and Sheksna Rivers, 267 kilometers north-north-east of Moscow. Population: It was previously known as ...

town. it is the third of the Volga-Kama Cascade of dams.

General data

Construction began in 1935 and was completed in 1950. The complex consists of *Concrete spillway dam on the Volga river, *Earth-fill dam on the Volga river, 524 m long and 27 m high *Single-lane, single-chamber lock on the Volga river *Earth-fill dam on the Sheksna river, 470 m long and 35 m high *Left-bank and right-bank dams on the Sheksna river, with total length of 6035 m. *Powerhouse on Sheksna river. Installed power is 386.4 MW, average annual production is 935 GWh. Power house has 6 generators with

Kaplan turbine The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to ach ...

s, working at 13.4 m head: 2 of 63.2 MW each and 4 of 65 MW. The dam forms

Rybinsk Reservoir Rybinsk Reservoir ( rus, Ры́бинское водохрани́лище, r=Rybinskoye vodokhranilishche, p=ˈrɨbʲɪnskəɪ vədəxrɐˈnʲilʲɪɕə), informally called the Rybinsk Sea, is a water reservoir on the Volga River and its tributar ...

. A highway passes over the Volga river on the dam.

Usage

The station covers peaks of electricity demand of central Russia. The reservoir is used for annual discharge regulation, boosting energy production on lower hydroelectric stations on the Volga. The reservoir is used for navigation ( it is the lowest stage of Volga-Baltic Waterway ) and flood control.

History

Initially the project of a dam in upper Volga considered a dam at 14 km up from

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluenc ...

with much less flood area, and preparations had been started. Later the project was reconsidered to an existing one. The

Mologa Mologa (russian: Моло́га) was a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, formerly situated at the confluence of the rivers Mologa and Volga, but now submerged under the waters of the Rybinsk Reservoir. Mologa existed at least since the 12th cen ...

town was flooded. Timeline: *May 23, 1938 – the project was approved. *June 1940 – construction has been started. *June 24, 1940 – the Volga dam completed. *October 24, 1940 – the Sheksna dam completed. *April 13, 1941 – reservoir started to fill. *November 18, 1941 – first turbine unit was put under load. *August 15, 1942 – second turbine unit was put under load. *August 1945 – December 1950 – the remaining 4 units were launched. Construction was supervised by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

and forced labour was extensively used. First turbines were started during the most difficult period of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, while thermal power plants suffered from lack of fuel. The station building was incomplete at that moment, and worked under tarp tent as a roof. Construction was continued after the war, and July 30, 1955

Uglich Hydroelectric Station The Uglich Hydroelectric Station or Uglich GES (russian: Угличская ГЭС) is a hydroelectric station on the Volga River in Uglich in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, and is the first of the Volga-Kama Cascade of dams. It began operating on Dec ...

and Rybinsk hydroelectric stations were officially completed and formed "1st cascade of Mosenergo hydroelectric stations". At that moment station's installed power was 330 MW, it was second-biggest power producer in USSR, after

DneproGES The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station ( uk, ДніпроГЕС, DniproHES; russian: ДнепроГЭС, DneproGES), also known as Dneprostroi Dam, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is the largest hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper river. ...

. From 1998 to 2022 all generator units were replaced, increasing installed power by 56,4 MW.http://www.rushydro.ru/press/news/117067.html There are also plans of installing 2 new generating units, increasing installed power up to 505.6 MW.

References

External links

{{Volga River Dams in Russia Hydroelectric power stations built in the Soviet Union Hydroelectric power stations in Russia Rybinsk Earth-filled dams Buildings and structures in Yaroslavl Oblast Dams completed in 1950 Dams on the Volga River Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Yaroslavl Oblast